


Captured Heart

by DoctorMerlinReid



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M, Female Merlin, Merlin is a Bandit Queen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-25 15:16:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 26,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6200149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorMerlinReid/pseuds/DoctorMerlinReid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, there was a king and a queen. They were fated to fall in love. The only problem: Arthur was King of the kingdom that Queen Merlin of the bandits terrorized. Destiny, however, will not be denied. One day, they will find each other. Fem!Merlin (bad summary, sorry).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

King Arthur of Camelot rode through the forest, his mount weaving its way between trees and over fallen branches. He could hear the sounds of his knights doing the same. Arthur had left his manservant, George, back in Camelot. It wasn't that he didn't like the guy; he just couldn't take non-stop bootlicking. It gets annoying every once in a while. George's bootlicking and the Council's obtuseness were the primary reasons for this impromptu hunting trip.

Currently, they were following the drunken tracks of an injured deer. Percival aimed a perfect shot at the stag, but a sound of wolves baying had made the creature take flight an instant before it was hit. The result: a shoulder wound and weak deer.

All was quiet as they trotted along, quite easily making out the tracks despite the fading light. That is, it was quiet, until the sounds of the deer screaming sent them careening through the woods. Arthur didn't even know deer could make that sound! He vaguely realized that they had no idea where they were galloping and what they were galloping towards. As they sped along, still watching the tracks, Gwaine let out a whistle, "Wow, those are some big paw prints! Wouldn't want to be that thing's dinner! A single print is the size of my hand splayed!"

Elyan laughed at him, the wind tearing at the sound, "That's because you've got tiny, delicate, ladies' hands Gwaine!" Arthur heard Gwaine mutter something about wondering how ladylike his hands would feel around Elyan's neck, but he ignored it in favor of the sight before him.

It was horrifying. The deer was not just ripped to pieces, it was decimated. The jumbled, bloody mess in front of him couldn't be put back together into any semblance of a creature. The knights dismounted. Arthur felt sick and heard as though through water Mordred getting sick behind him. Surrounding the creature's remains were those same paw prints Gwaine had noted earlier. They were huge.

With a sort of sick fascination, Arthur noted that the stag's bones were missing. He wondered how the wolves had taken them. Then the bushes rattled to their left. Instantly the knights were on alert. With their hands to the hilts of their swords, they stalked towards the bushes.

Then the bushes to their right rattled. Too late, Arthur noticed that this was the perfect place for an ambush. It was surrounded by thick trees except for the area they had come through. Speaking of which, someone was entering along that rode right now.

The knights spun to face this new threat, but they all visibly relaxed when they realized it was just a woman. Arthur paused and reappraised her. She wasn't just a woman.

She couldn't have been more than eighteen or nineteen years old. She had raven black hair tied into a waist-long braid. Small wisps of dark hair framed her thin, milky white face. Set above prominent cheekbones were intelligent cerulean eyes. They captured his attention and for a second, all he could do was stare at her.

She flicked her eyes onto one of the other knights and Arthur felt like he had been released from a spell. He quickly looked over the rest of her, noting her protruding ears and her long, thin fingers.

Said fingers were decorated with rings and he realized that her ears sported jewelry as well. When she shifted slightly, he could hear bracelets chinking under her brown leather jacket. The jacket lay over a navy blue tunic that hung off her thin frame. Instead of necklaces, which Arthur expected, he saw a red neckerchief. She had black tights that went to rest under her dark brown leather boots.

He saw her fingers tap an irregular pattern on the hilt of her sword. That snapped him out of his daze. Why on earth would this woman be equipped with a sword? That's when she spoke. She asked, "Who are you and what business do you have here?"

Her voice filled the little grove they were in and Arthur resisted the urge to cower. He glanced quickly at his knights, seeing his own apprehension mirrored in their eyes. Well, almost all of their eyes. Lancelot was looking very calm. If Arthur didn't know better, he would say that Lancelot had actually become more relaxed by the appearance of this woman than he was on a normal day. The knights stressed more than Leon.

Arthur filed that thought away for later consideration and stood his tallest, looking the woman in the eye, only to be interrupted by Gwaine, who said, "Why don't you tell us? You seem pretty friendly with him over there." He pointed with his chin at Lancelot. Lancelot and the mysterious person shared a quick look, too quick to be sure that he hadn't just imagined it before the woman went back to staring pointedly at Arthur.

Arthur said, "I am King Arthur Pendragon of Camelot and I am hunting with my knights. These are my lands and you have no right to confront me."

The woman's lips curled up in a cruel smile and she lifted a hand. It took Arthur a moment to realize what she was doing, but the knights of Camelot were surrounded before he could say a word. He allowed himself a brief moment to be impressed by her skills, but then he whipped his sword out and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the other knights doing the same. They were outnumbered, but they were also Camelot's finest knights. He had no doubt that they could beat this group.

That woman smiled again and slid one leg forward, moving into a crouch and spinning, her leg catching Leon off balance. Before any of the knights could orient themselves to help, the woman had spun upward, catching Lancelot's arm and holding a knife to his neck. They all stilled and waited for her to speak.

Seemingly not out of breath from her impressive moves, she said, "You had three choices. One: come with us and behave and you will all most likely live. Two: try to fight back and I will kill this knight and then we will promptly capture you and force you to go where we want. Three: attempt to rescue this knight and I will kill him and if you continue to fight, we will be forced to kill all of you. So, King Arthur Pendragon of Camelot, which do you choose?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once upon a time, there was a king and a queen. They were fated to fall in love. The only problem: Arthur was King of the kingdom that Queen Merlin of the bandits terrorized. Destiny, however, will not be denied. One day, they will find each other. Fem!Merlin (bad summary, sorry).

They had been walking through the forest for about fifteen minutes before they reached their destination. Arthur had agreed to go with them, of course he did. He wouldn't just watch as she killed Lancelot, despite his recent suspicious behavior.

Arthur had noticed on the walk to the hideout, during which the woman kept her dagger (where did she even get that from?) at Lancelot's throat, only moving it once when she turned her head to whisper in Lancelot's ear. Arthur noticed idly that she was tall for a girl and beautiful too. Arthur mentally shook his head to rid himself of all such thoughts. He needed to focus on how to get them out of this mess.

For a moment, he started to think that maybe they had something to do with the torn up deer and the wolf tracks, but before he could work through that line of thinking, the woman spoke again, "However small consolation it might be, you are all safe here in this camp from outside forces. Well, as safe as you can be. We will protect you to our deaths if need be. Is that understood?" The knights nodded at her uncertainly. She still held her dagger to their comrade's neck.

She saw where they were looking and released Lancelot. He stumbled a little for a second and she grinned at him when he turned. It was a shark's grin. Lancelot just tipped his head slightly and looked at her.

She spoke again, "There are rules here. You trespassed on our lands and attempted to hunt our game. The punishment for that is death. Unfortunately for us and fortunately for you, you are more than our average trespasser. Therefore, we cannot kill you as is normal. Our solution: we will hold you hostage until someone arrives to rescue you, or in other words, pay for your release. If no one comes for you on a shining horse before two months has passed, you will all be killed and we will forgo the consequences.

"So, what happens next? I would like you to know that we will not be restraining you; however, you cannot leave the sanctuary of our humble abode. My men will treat you with as much respect as you treat them. You will be provided with good food three times a day and a place to sleep. There is a system for bathrooms, but I will let one of my men explain that to you. Do you have any questions?"

Arthur practically growled at her, "You're a witch!"

Her gaze went flat and cold and Arthur actually felt his heart stutter in fear. When she spoke, her voice was hard as steel, "I am not a witch. I do admit that I have practiced witchcraft, but I am not a witch. I am a warlock, a sorceress, and a mage. I will give you no more than that."

This was just getting worse and worse for Arthur. Not only had he been kidnapped and was likely to stay in this place for the next two months with no chance of escape and imminent death, but also he was captured by a sorceress.

Leon narrowed his eyes at the sorceress and matched Arthur's tone, "Do you work with Morgana?"

The woman's pitch black eyebrows knotted together and she stared at them uncomprehendingly, "I'm sorry, who?"

Gwaine hurriedly covered for Leon and said, "Never you mind, I have a question. What's your name? If we're going to be spending the next two months together, we might as well know each other's names. I'm-,"

He was cut off by her saying, "I know who you are. You are Gwaine and with you are Arthur, Leon, Percival, Lancelot, Elyan, and Mordred. But I see your point. My name is Merlin, pleasure to meet you."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once upon a time, there was a king and a queen. They were fated to fall in love. The only problem: Arthur was King of the kingdom that Queen Merlin of the bandits terrorized. Destiny, however, will not be denied. One day, they will find each other. Fem!Merlin (bad summary, sorry).

Lancelot worked with the rest of the knights on setting up their bed rolls in the space provided. He kept silent, hoping beyond hope that his king and fellow knights wouldn't comment on his, admittedly, strange behavior.

It really wasn't his fault, though. He hadn't seen Merlin in forever and had been beginning to get worried about her. Lancelot knew that she could take care of herself, but that couldn't stop him from worrying.

Too late, Lancelot realized that his movements had slowed to an infinitesimal crawl and that the knights had noticed. He looked up and offered a grin to his king, but Arthur just stared stonily back at him. Lancelot raised a single eyebrow before turning back to setting up his roll and arranging his weapons.

"So," Gwaine began. Lancelot sighed. Of course it would be Gwaine. The rogue knight continued, "You seem mighty friendly with that Merlin girl." Lancelot gave a noncommittal grunt that Percival would have been proud of.

Arthur stepped forward, his hand brushing empty air where his sword normally rested. He asked threateningly, "How do you know this sorceress?"

The sound of Merlin's voice echoed through his head, sounding mystical and strong, Do you want me to step in? If their inquires are bothering you, I can find a way to distract them. Lancelot smothered a laugh as he thought of how many ways Merlin could distract people.

He answered back through the connection Merlin had set up years ago so they could communicate without other's hearing them, No, Merlin, but thank you for offering. Just a question before I start explaining, do you want to keep anything from them? Anything in particular?

Lancelot could practically hear Merlin thinking through all over her secrets and categorizing everything into who knows what sections. Merlin, although possibly the clumsiest person in existence, was incredibly careful and went to great efforts to keep herself hidden. She answered back, You may tell them everything that does not concern my magic other than a simple conformation of its existence. By the way, it is good to see you Lance.

Lancelot gave her the equivalent of a mind smile and said, You too, Merls. Then he looked back at his king and fellow knights. They were watching him expectantly. Arthur looked like his patience had worn thin and he was about to throttle Lancelot.

Finally, the young knight sighed and answered slowly, "She is my sister."

For a moment, only silence and shocked expressions. Then Gwaine asked, "How is that even possible? You're, like, Spanish and she is as white as white gets! No offense to either of you or anything, but I mean, really!"

Lancelot laughed and heard Merlin laughing along with him through their link. He stopped laughing long enough to respond, "We share a mother. My father and her mother fell in love and gave birth to me. When my father fell in love with someone else, her mother understood and moved away, eventually falling in love with someone else and having Merlin. Eventually, we met and our parents explained our births."

Percival looked hurt and he said softly, "You didn't tell me you had a sister."

Lancelot cringed inwardly. Of all the knights, he had spent the most time with Percival. It had hurt him to not tell the big man about Merlin, but it had been necessary to keep her safe. Lancelot said, "I'm sorry to all of you that I didn't tell you. You have no idea how many times I wanted to tell you about some escapade of ours or some story she had told me. But I had to keep her safe. She's my sister and I won't let anyone harm her."

The noble knight could feel Arthur gazing at him levelly and he raised his eyes to meet those of his king. Arthur sighed and said, "Who is she really? You said you wanted to tell us about her, well, tell us about her."

Lancelot gave him a nervous grin (a habit he had picked up from Merlin) and said, "Well, she was born in Ealdor and our mother's name is Hunith. I have no idea who her father is. When a group of bandits attacked Ealdor when she was about five, Hunith sent Merlin into the woods to be safe. The bandits killed every last person in the village and set it aflame.

"Eventually, the group, led by a man named Kanen, found Merlin hiding in the woods. She stood strong and told them that if they were going to kill her then they might as well get it over with. She didn't want to waste their time. Kanen, however, had a different idea. He took her with them to their hideout and started to train her in the ways of a bandit.

"By the time she was ten, she could outfight any bandit alive and she could outsmart any kingdom. Kanen was dealt a mortal blow and named Merlin his successor as head of his clan. She was eleven years old.

"One year later, the bandit king died and a council was called to name the new king and or queen. Merlin, as the head of Kanen's clan had to go to the meeting and put her name into the competitions. That's how bandits elect a leader: they do competitions. There are fighting games, which include swords, fists, maces, hammers, and axes. There are logic games, which include puzzles, strategy simulators, and household problems. Then there are the magic games.

"Almost every clan's head group had a magic user in them. The reason that we don't run across the sorcerers is that only the clan's head group has them. The rest of the clan just has to do without. Merlin, being magical, fought for her clan in the magic games. That's a huge point in her favor when deciding a ruler.

"Eventually, they chose Merlin to lead them, although I can't imagine why, she being the clumsiest and silliest thing to ever walk the earth. But, she started a new reign over the bandits. That's the main reason we haven't run across any recently. She is a lot better and keeping them hidden and maximizing the profits." Lancelot finished.

The other knights stared at him uncomprehendingly until Mordred said slowly, as if he couldn't believe it, "You're sister is a sorceress and a bandit queen and has now kidnapped us and given us the almost sure promise of death?"

Lancelot's answer was equally slow, "Yes."

They all stared at each other for a moment, not quite sure how any of them should be reacting. Then Merlin's voice sounded loudly in Lancelot's head, Lance! Get the king and the knights to safety! There's a group of mercenaries here who are dead set on capturing whoever it is we captured. And it's a big group.

Before she was even done talking, Lancelot was ushering a very confused king and his knights into a random tent, saying, "It's safer this way. We're under attack."

They were almost into the tent, only Lancelot and Arthur stood outside it, when the mercenaries came into view. They rounded a hilltop and blew on war horns. Lancelot thought shakily to Merlin, That's not a big group of mercenaries. That's an army!


	4. Chapter 4

Merlin turned her head to make sure that all of her prisoners were in the tent, only to find that none of them were in the tent. After Lance's comment in her head, they must have all filed out. She took a quick breath and closed her eyes for a moment before loping over to them.

She smacked a Lance upside the head and said, "Why are you all outside? What happened to going into the tent when trouble appears?"

He looked at her with wide eyes and rubbed the back of his head, "It's not my fault they didn't listen!"

Merlin growled at him and was about to smack him again when Arthur's voice rang out, "Give us our weapons and our armor and we can help you defeat these people. I give my solemn vow that during this battle we will not attempt escape."

Merlin could hear the sounds of her clan returning and setting up for the army tramping through the forest. She bit the inside of her lip and said, "You couldn't escape even if you wanted to." Then she whispered a spell, "Acumendlicnes sé arc hércyme hræding."

Arthur moved his hand to cover the place where his sword would normally hang, but relaxed when the chest with their armor and supplies landing on the ground in front of them. Merlin raised an eyebrow at him and asked, hand on hip, "Do you sleep with your sword on that you are constantly reaching for it?" He merely scowled at her.

Her lips quirked up in a smile, but then she was turning away and gathering her people to her. When Arthur and the knights finally joined the group, Merlin had already outlined the plan. She turned to the knights, "Alright, here are your orders. I'm splitting you into two different sized groups. Group one: Arthur, Lancelot, Gwaine, and Mordred. Group two: Leon, Elyan, and Percival. Group one will go with me and take orders as we go. Group two will go with Loren and take orders as you go. Think your tiny minds can remember that?"

Gwaine laughed and said, "I think that was aimed at you, Queenie."

Merlin shared a quick eye roll with Lance before she called for group one, which was the aforementioned knights, herself, and two other bandits, to head out. She heard group two doing the same.

So, Lance's voice called into her head, What's the whole plan with killing us in a month? You have to know that people are going to try to rescue us and they won't be able to do it. Merlin sent out a mental eye roll and responded, That's what a ransom is for, dummy.

She could tell that he was about to continue but just then the young bandit queen raised her hand to call a halt. Merlin turned back to them and whispered, "Alright, here's step two: split the group up. I figure that this mercenary group doesn't know exactly what their looking for. Their employer knew that you would be travelling through these woods and they somehow found out we got a hold of you, but they didn't find it necessary to tell the mercenaries that. All we have to do then is get the group to split into smaller groups.

"Group one and group two will run out of the clearing at the same time with the bandits of said groups following behind, seeming to chase after them. The mercenaries only know to get the people from Camelot, so they will chase after both groups, but leave a group behind to go after group three which will jump out and attack when they start splitting up. Do you know what you have to do? It involves a fair amount of acting." Merlin finished.

"Acting?" Gwaine asked, "I can do acting. Do you know how many times I've had to act like I like a person to get ale off of them?"

Merlin stared at him, "No. I don't. How is it, exactly, that you became a knight?"

He lifted his chin and shook his brown mane, answering, "An extreme act of bravery."

"And being exiled a couple of times." Arthur added, eyebrows raised. Merlin giggled and motioned for them to get into position to run. She saw Loren put up his ready signal and then she took hers down. That was the signal for his group to get going.

As she saw the red caped group flee from the trees and stop abruptly in their tracks upon seeing the army, she pushed Mordred into the opening. He started running as well, the other knights following behind him.

By now, the enemy was in an uproar, people running every which way. Both Camelot groups veered sharply the other direction, somehow avoiding all of the bandit's grasping hands. One of the bandits had even fallen flat on his face as he tried to turn with them. It was all highly entertaining, but Merlin needed to get her head in the game.

She directed Lance on where to turn through her connection, knowing that Loren had donned a red cape and was leading the other group to a different location.

Then they were at the clearing and she ordered for everyone to stop and turn around. Mordred, who was puffing like horse, asked, "How… is it that… you aren't… even that out… of breath?"

She threw a breathtaking grin his way and said brightly, "Practice makes perfect!"

Just then the enemy breached the tree line and they went into attack mode. Once the army had been split into three groups, it wasn't so intimidating. Each group following groups one and two was comprised of about twenty men. Merlin knew that the larger brunt of the mercenaries was fighting her bandits back at camp, but she couldn't think about things like that right now.

She swept her sword out from her belt and caught the first man in the gut. She crouched low and felt a sword sweep over her head. Spinning, she struck him in the shoulder with her blade. In front of her, Lance had taken someone's legs out from beneath them and Merlin threw one of her daggers, impaling the man up to the hilt. Lance nodded his thanks to her.

Merlin swung around just in time to block an upcoming blow, using the struggle to kick him in the knee, snapping it backwards. She stabbed him and moved on. She took out three more men and realized that there were no enemies left standing.

Moving quickly, Merlin grabbed her dagger and pulled it from the man's back, wiping the blood on his tunic. She called out to the knights and bandits, "Come on, we might have won here, but there are always more enemies to fight."

She then started running back towards camp. She wasn't even a minute in before she tripped spectacularly on a rock. She rolled into a standing position and said, "I'm okay," before starting to run again. She could hear the knights and her own bandits snickering behind her, but she ignored them. She could take them down with no hands. So ha.

Anyways, they had reached the battle and Merlin drew to a stop, assessing the situation. Arthur had no such qualms as he just raced into the fray, swinging his sword and shouting something about Camelot. She watched in disbelief as all of his knights and her bandits did the same (except, her bandits cried out, "For money!" Of course.).

Her eyes skipped over the crowd and she found all of group two safe and sound, fighting in the battle with vigor. She stepped onto a hickory stump and stood up, shouting in her loudest voice, "Halt all battle!"

Despite the screaming, the cries of pain, and the clang of metal on metal, she was still heard and everyone did as she said. They looked at her with eyes wide with wonder. She raised her chin and said in her mightiest voice, "You have no right to be here. This is my land and you are trying to take my prizes. I will not let you have them. I am the bandit queen! Do you really think you can beat me? Don't worry, you will be paid for your endeavors, but not as much as you initially thought, but also not in any more blood. Will you forfeit this battle?"

Slowly, all of the mercenaries put down their weapons and Merlin allowed herself a moment to breathe. She was super glad that she hadn't had to kill anyone else. The young warlock nodded to Loren, her second in command, to round up the mercenaries and pay them their dues.

Then she ran.

She ran and she ran and she ran until she couldn't breathe and she had to sit down. She found a semi comfortable log and sat. Then she thought over the people she had killed this day and every day before. And she wept tears for her enemies.


	5. Chapter 5

Lancelot's hand landed on Merlin's shoulder and she whipped around, twisting his arm around and pushing him to the ground. Within an instant, Merlin's dagger was at the what she considered to be the enemy's throat.

"Whoa!" Lancelot said from below Merlin, trying to avoid being stabbed, "Whoa. Did I actually manage to frighten the fearless leader of the bandits? This must be my lucky day. Does this mean that I win something?" Lance faltered in his speech when he realized that Merlin's only reaction was to pull him into a standing position and sit on a log.

She tilted her face away from him and Lance kneeled down in front of her, grabbing onto one of her hands with one of his and using his other to move Merlin's face so she would face him. This was what Lance always did when Merlin was hurting. Merlin had her own tactics to make Lance feel better, but this was Lance's way.

Merlin used her free hand to put an escaped lock of raven hair behind her ear and whispered her voice hoarse, "How did you get out of camp?"

Lance smiled at her and she gave him a tiny smile back. Tear tracks marked their way down her face and onto the front of her tunic. The knight said, "Loren let me out."

His sister sniffled, "I'm going to kick his butt for that when I get back."

Lancelot chuckled and said, "I'm sure you are. Answer a question for me, please? Why are you out here? You are quite a distance from camp, from your prizes."

Merlin tightened her grip on her brother's hand and looked up to prevent more tears from falling. Although her voice was still hoarse, the passion was still evident in her words when she said, "I hate killing. These people… they don't deserve to die. They are following someone else's orders and doing someone else's dirty work for them and I have to kill them and people following my orders kill them. Everyone who died today? I killed them. It's my fault!"

"Oh, Merlin." Lancelot whispered before he brought his sister's forehead to touch his. For a moment, they just sat there with their eyes closed, reveling in the feeling of safety they gave each other. Lance's lips quirked into a smile and he said, "Well, I don't think you'll be killing Arthur and us knights."

Merlin tilted her head, their foreheads still pressed together. She opened her eyes and saw that he was smiling. She started to smile too and asked, "And why do you think that is?"

His smile bloomed into a full-out grin and he glanced around them before whispering conspiratorially, "Because we're growing on you."

Merlin giggled, which was his aim. He loved it when she giggled, but it was even better when she laughed, but that was happening less and less each day. Merlin smiled at him, "Maybe some of you are growing on me." She rolled her eyes and then copied Lance's earlier conspiratorial movements and whispered, "But maybe that Arthur one's not growing on me."

Lance laughed, "I think you're the first girl to ever say that."

Merlin smiled, "Is that so? Well then, none of them has ever truly met him. He is arrogant, rude, obnoxious, assuming, a clotpole, a cabbage head, a prat, and is ruled by a double standard. I cannot stand him."

The knight flashed her a grin, showing his white teeth before saying, "I didn't know Merlin. I mean, I know now, since you've made it absolutely clear."

"That I hate him?" Merlin raised an eyebrow at him.

"Nope," Lance corrected, "That you love him."

Merlin reeled back, staring at Lancelot in shock, "I do not!"

Lance laughed and said, "You love him totally and irrevocably. He's your true love!"

Merlin smacked Lance upside the head and Lance rubbed the spot, laughing and saying, "Totally worth it."

The young warlock aimed her glare back at Lance for a moment, and in that single second, she managed to trip over a protruding root and fall flat on her face. Lance burst out laughing and leaned against a tree as he waited for her to right herself. She grumbled, "Aren't you supposed to help people as a knight? I'm pretty sure you're supposed to help people." Lance just laughed harder.

When Sir Lancelot finally walked back into camp, it was with the bandit who had taken them captive. Arthur and his knights looked up and watched as they came in, Lancelot shoving Merlin and Merlin shoving him right back. They were both laughing with each other.

Percival idly commented, "I've never seen Lance look so happy before."

They were all washing dishes from a meal that Lancelot and Merlin had missed. Arthur looked up from his dishes after Percival said that, seeing that all of his knights were nodding their agreement. Arthur said, "He'll have to get over it pretty soon because we enact our escape plan soon."

Gwaine raised his eyebrow at Arthur and said, "I think Merlin can hear you."

Arthur was about to ask what he meant, but he turned and saw that Merlin was staring straight at him, her head tilted to the side. She looked as if she was studying him, tearing him apart under her gaze. Out of pure willpower, Arthur tore his gaze from hers and saw that Lancelot had come over. Arthur said, "Where were you?"

Lancelot scowled at Arthur's tone of voice and answered coldly, "I was making sure my sister was safe. Am I not supposed to do that, sire?"

Arthur shook his head sadly and turned back to his dishes. Lancelot snarled, "What?", startling them all. Lancelot was the calmest person they knew. He would never snarl at someone.

The King answered, "The way you're acting. That witch's magic must be corrupting you already. Her honeyed words aren't real Lancelot. Maybe she was your sister once, but not anymore. She is a shell of what she once was because she chose to use magic. That is not your sister anymore."

Lancelot's eyes narrowed and he stepped forward. Even Gwaine stepped back from him. Then the knight stopped and closed his eyes. He appeared almost as though he was listening to someone, but no one was talking. He took a deep breath and said to Arthur in a controlled voice, "Merlin was born with magic."

Leon gave Sir Lancelot a sad smile and said, "Another lie she told you to protect herself." He looked up at the sky and said to Arthur, "The sorceress is distracted dealing with a mercenary who won't go away. It is time, sire."

"Time for what?" Lancelot asked.

"Time for our escape plan to begin." Arthur grinned at Lancelot and started walking away. He never expected what came next.


	6. Chapter 6

Merlin knew that Arthur would try to make an escape attempt. She was actually expecting several attempts before the two months were over. She was, however, not expecting them to attempt an escape the same day that they had killed people. Merlin figured that Arthur and his knights were used to killing people, but whatever happened to respecting the dead?

The young warlock pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes briefly. She thought through what had just happened, sending her most scathing glare at the people of Camelot. It had happened like this:

Merlin had glanced over at Arthur when Lance left, thinking over what her brother had said. She didn't have any feelings for this… prat, did she? What had started as a passing glance had turned into her staring intently at him. Then he had turned at looked at her. He seemed startled, as if that was what he had least expected. She tilted her head and continued to look at him. She saw more than heard Lance snarl, "What?"

The young queen called out in her mind, Lance, what's going on? Are you all right?. She didn't get a response. She could see Arthur saying something, and then Lancelot stepped forward, his face morphed in anger. Merlin was more anxious when she called out again, Lancelot! What are you doing?!

Lancelot answered silently, Did you hear what they said about you? Merlin sent out a mental head shaking no. His body thrummed with anger as he continued, They said that you are making me act protective of you, that your magic is corrupting you. They say that you haven't been my sister since you chose magic. Arthur called you a witch.

Oh, Lance, Merlin sighed, Why do their words bother you so much? Haven't you grown tired of being angered by those who don't understand? You shouldn't be angry at someone for not knowing something. That is not their fault, but the fault of their teachers and, most likely, the fault of their parents.

Lance sighed back to her, his mental voice sounding fatigued, How do I help them to see you as who you are, and not some… monster that needs to be slain?

Merlin shrugged through their connection, answering slowly, The only thing I could think would be to tell them that I was born with magic. Why do you need them to know? He didn't answer though, choosing instead to talk to his friends and king. Maybe that was why he needed them to understand. They were his friends. Merlin didn't have much of a concept of friends. She had had Will of course, when he was still alive, but she was young and didn't remember much of it. When Kanen had taken a special interest in her, she had been marked out as special and dangerous. No other child had dared go near her. Except Lancelot. The only times she had been able to get away from the bandit encampments and see him, he had been the perfect older brother and they had helped each other a lot.

Merlin would admit that seeing him with friends was painful. Not only because she felt slightly like he was abandoning her, but also because she felt a little jealous of him having friends and her not. She was broken off of that line of thinking when Lancelot's voice sounded in her head, clashing with the sound of the knights screaming, "For Camelot!"

The young warlock pulled out her sword, sending a thought to Lance, Can't you get them to stop this foolish attempt? They are outnumbered and were warned that they cannot leave the confines of this camp! What do they think they will accomplish?

Lancelot didn't respond and Merlin glanced at him to see that a bandit was currently trying to restrain him. When she turned back to where the knights were charging, she noticed quickly that Arthur was not among them. She hadn't had a chance to swing her head around when something cold and thin snapped around her sword wrist, jingling along with the other bracelets there. She swung her other arm around at whomever was behind her, but it was intercepted by someone else and pulled behind her. Another cold circle was snapped around that wrist.

Merlin vaguely heard Lance cry out her name, but she was already falling, rushing toward the ground. There was no strength left in her body, no humming power pooled around her heart. It took her a moment to realize it, but her magic was gone. That wasn't possible! Her magic couldn't be gone! It was attached to her soul!

That's when the pain hit in. At realizing that it was attached her to soul, she also made the connection that it would take her soul with it. And that hurt. A lot. So Merlin did the only thing she could think of. She screamed. The young warlock screamed and screamed until her voice was hoarse and the sounds stopped coming. Merlin couldn't see anything. Everything was blurry and out of focus.

Suddenly, she felt someone reach for her arms and she bucked and kicked. Her wrists already hurt with an unending fire! Why would these people hurt her more? The person was insistent, though, and finally grabbed her arms. They took off the cold metal circles that were causing her so much pain. 

When Merlin's gaze had cleared and her hearing returned to normal, she found out that all of the knights from Camelot had been recaptured, including their king. Lancelot had struggled against his captor until Loren finally gave the order to release him and let him help. Merlin found out that Arthur hadn't had the key to the cuffs that would take away the wearer's magic.

The plan would have been perfect: neutralize the greatest danger (Merlin and her magic) and threaten her once she was weakened and unable to retaliate. They would make their sweet escape and return with an army soon after to rid the earth of the vermin. The only problem was that Arthur hadn't expected the cuffs to cause Merlin any pain. At least, that's what it had seemed like. Loren had informed the queen that when she fell to the ground and started screaming, Arthur had backed up and his eyes had flown wide open.

Merlin shook the last remnants of memory from her mind and addressed the group of prisoners standing before her, "Do you have any more magic erasing memorabilia with you?" All of the knights and their king shook their heads no, quietly and without any sarcasm.

Merlin ran a shaky hand over her face, still caught in the pain of those cuffs. She took a deep breath and said, "You are all probably wondering why I had such a strong reaction to those cuffs. I know that most magic users don't. I'm not most magic users. I was born with magic, so my magic is stronger, more… natural. That's why I had that reaction. Please don't do that again. We have sent out a ransom demand for your release. Try to behave until then. Night has almost fallen, so, go get some sleep." Merlin turned away from them, not even waiting for a reaction. She went to her tent, crawled in bed, and promptly fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Merlin and four other bandits came out of the woods at around nine in the morning. When Arthur and the others had woken, she had been gone; hunting, Loren had said. For a moment, the King ignored the fact that Merlin was a bandit queen with powerful magic who had kidnapped them and chose to just look at her. She really was quite beautiful with her long, glossy hair and her strong, pale arms. Her eyes captivated him the most, deep blue filled with sky and sea colors. Arthur took a deep breath and walked over to her.

He saw the moment when she realized that someone was coming up behind her. Her shoulders tensed the slightest bit and her hand came to rest on her sword (a habit that she had recently made fun of him for, he might add). She turned around, her face painted with curiosity. When she saw who it was, however, her face closed off and her eyes turned icy. Merlin asked calmly, "Is there something I can do for you, Arthur Pendragon?"

Arthur hung his head a little bit and answered quietly. This was hard for him to say in the first place, let alone to his captor, "I… I just wanted to say… to say that I'm sorry for… hurting you yesterday. I really did not intend for that to happen." His voice got smaller as he continued. He really did feel bad. All he wanted was to escape this so-called 'impenetrable prison'. Ever since the failed escape, Lancelot hadn't said a word to any of them. His eyes were stormy and his lips were constantly pressed into a thin line. The noble knight had stayed with Merlin late into the night before slinking back to their tent. It hurt Arthur when he realized just how much Lancelot really did care for his sister and how horrible it would be to see her hurt like that. It hurt worse, though, to see her screaming on the ground in pain. This was a woman who could yell for a battle to stop and it would stop. This was a woman who was queen of an empire of thieves. And he was the reason that she had writhed on the ground in unimaginable agony, screaming herself hoarse. He knew that the sight would haunt his nightmares for weeks.

Merlin's voice was bone-weary when she answered, "I accept your apology and I know that you didn't mean for it to hurt me. You were expecting it to be normal and if I were normal, it wouldn't have hurt me." Arthur thought he detected a bit of bitterness creep into her voice by the end.

The King didn't know what to say after that. Leon had convinced him that he needed to apologize to the sorceress as he felt as guilty as his king. The other knights had convinced him that he needed to get to know the woman better. When he looked up, she had turned away. He cleared his throat and said, "Um, I was wondering, um, what's with all of the bracelets, anklets, rings, earrings, and hair pieces."

Today, the queen was wearing a red tunic and a blue neckerchief and her brown boots were missing. That was how he could see the numerous anklets. Her hair was also decorated with beads and hoops with ribbons weaving through the braid. Merlin ducked her head and smiled the tiniest bit, "One of the places we camped at while I was with Kanen, we met a group of bandits who had this thing called 'jewelry books'. Basically, it meant that the jewelry you wear and the way you wear it tells a story. The story of you. Each piece means a different thing."

Arthur was intrigued by now and said, "What do the three ribbons in your braid mean?"

Merlin was getting into the conversation as well and she replied, "If you have ribbons, that means that you performed a feat that is tied to the color of the ribbon. I got the blue one when the other bandit groups saw the trust and loyalty that I inspired in my clan. The purple one was from one time where I used my creativity and my magic to save some stranded bandits. The black one is for the power I used and the death I caused in a battle a while back." Her face grew sad as she thought about it.

"Why is it only you that does this 'jewelry book' thing?" Arthur asked, glancing around at the others.

The petite girl smirked and said, "Do you think that guys would look good with this much jewelry on? I don't think so. Normally only girls do it. I didn't learn about it until later because I was the only girl in our head group."

"Really?" Arthur began, "The only one?" She nodded and he continued, "Wow, that must've sucked. Alright, how about all of the rings on your ring finger. I don't think you've married that many people."

She shook her head and looked back at him, eyes bright, and "These are the rings of everyone who had proposed to me. Three men is a little more than the average girl gets, but I've seen some girls who have to switch out rings each day because they have too many to all fit on their finger. The one man who you finally choose to be your husband will have his ring on the top, to show that he beat all of the other men."

Arthur laughed slightly at the absurdity of it all. That was not how marrying worked in the higher social levels of the castle. There, you were found a girl almost at birth and are forced to marry them. There is no picking and choosing men for the girls, or for the men in most cases. He looked at her and saw a strange earring wrapped around her ear. It was a silver dragon that's head lay in front of her ear, it's back curling around the back of the ear and slinking back to the front again to go through the earring hole. The backing was the final chunk of the dragon's tail. Arthur reached forward and touched it slightly, asking, "Why this one?"

Merlin's eyes were wide when he looked back and he suddenly realized how close he was to her. His hand was still brushed lightly against the earring and their noses were mere centimeters apart. He jerked back and coughed awkwardly. She answered shakily, "I am a dragonlord. I guess you could say a dragon lady. The power is supposed to be transferred from father to son through death, but for some reason, the Fates decreed that I would be given this gift."

Arthur frowned, "There aren't any dragonlords left. They… my father sentenced them all to death. The last one, by the name of Balinor, died when we went to him for help concerning the dragon attacking Camelot."

Merlin's voice was clearer when she said, "And like I said, the power is passed on through death. If a dragonlord dies, their son, or in this case, daughter will receive the power. Balinor was the last dragonlord. Until his death. I have to go now." With that, she stood up and walked over to a small commotion over by the game table. Arthur continued to sit and stare at the spot where she had been. Finally, he stood up and walked back to his appointed tent.

He got in and saw that his knights (aside from Lancelot, who at least seemed to be less upset) looked to be about to start laughing. He frowned at them and asked, "What?"

Leon stifled his laughter and put on a straight face, "Nothing, sire."

Gwaine didn't have the same reservations as Leon and started guffawing, saying, "Did you see how close to her face you were? I swear that you two were about to start snogging! Talk about liking women in positions of power, mate!"

Arthur was about to answer when he saw a flash of white light from outside of the tent. He glanced back at his knights and together they crept out of their temporary home. Arthur froze at the sight in front of him.

There, in the middle of the camp, was Merlin, her arms crossed and her braid waving across her back. In front of her, facing the knights, was a woman with wavy, ebony hair that, even in its gnarled state seemed silky, and with bright, malicious emerald eyes. Morgana.


	8. Chapter 8

Merlin wasn't sure who this woman was who appeared in the middle of her camp, but she was not happy with her. The woman was beautiful in her own respects, but also had the mad look of someone who was on a mission that can't be completed. The bandit queen ignored her immediate dislike and instead held out her hand to the emerald eyed beauty, "Pleasure to meet your project spirit. If I may ask, what is your spirit doing here?" In her mind, she sent out a message to Lancelot, Get the knights and king inside now! This woman's rubbing me the wrong way.

Lancelot's worried voice called back, That's Morgana! She's evil and wants to kill Arthur at all costs! There was a pause and then his voice came back, I don't think I can get Arthur to stay in here. He wants to see what's going on.

Morgana sneered at Merlin and said, "I am here to take what is mine."

Merlin timed her response perfectly to the spell she laid. With no words, her eyes flared golden and she knew that a mirror had formed in the prisoner's tent that showed the events transpiring. Along with her eyes changing colors, she growled, "And what, exactly, is it that you believe to be yours, Morgana?"

It was worth the danger of saying that to see the moment of surprise flit across her face. Then Morgana gained control of her emotions and smiled cautiously at her, "I did not realize that you are a magic user as well! We can take Arthur together and kill him, taking over the throne in the process. The throne is mine, but you will share it with me. You must be powerful to take on Arthur and his knights. Come, join me!"

The female bandit raised a slim black eyebrow at the crazed witch and said, "I already am a queen. What would I gain from joining you?"

Something dark flickered beneath the ice coating Morgana's gaze, but then it was gone, "You would gain a land that you are free to steal from and exploit indefinitely, with a profit going to me, of course. And you would have as many subjects as you could ever want!" She flashed a dazzling smile Merlin's way, but Merlin was not impressed.

The younger girl just kept her eyebrow raised and explained patiently, "I already have all of that right here, right now. Why would I risk the lives of my men and women to possibly take over a kingdom and receive… exactly what I have now?"

This time the ice in Morgana's eyes cracked and a fire flamed up beneath them. She glared vehemently at the young warlock and growled, "I will come back and next time I will not be trapped in spirit form. Beware my wrath! You have made a dangerous enemy!" She was shouting by the end of it.

Merlin smiled ruefully and said, "I've made a lot of dangerous enemies. I doubt you could be much worse."

Morgana lifted her chin and snarled, "You have one last chance to give Arthur to me!"

Merlin adopted a confused expression and said innocently, "I don't recall ever being offered a first chance. Either way, the answer is no." She finished with a shark's grin. Morgana, with one last glare sent her way and a contemptuous glance thrown over the camp, left in a swirl of cloak and wind and dust.

The bandit queen twitched her nose slightly and said offhandedly, "Well, that was strange." She moved to start looking through a pile of letters from other bandits clans (which really shouldn't have been lying there so casually with prisoners around), but was stopped by a tanned, muscular hand enveloping her pale arm, causing her bracelets to jingle.

Arthur's bright blue eyes smoldered with hatred and for a moment, Merlin felt a fear encompass her. She tried quickly to pull away, but then his eyes softened and he removed his hand. Merlin realized that the hate had been directed at Morgana and she briefly wondered what the witch had done to get that kind of a reaction out of him. She glanced quickly at her arm, noting the red mark there, then she looked back up to him, "Is there any particular reason you stopped me just there?" Her eyes were not quite the cold ice they had been earlier that morning, but she realized that they were still a bit colder than when she was telling Arthur about the jewelry.

He swallowed and said, "I just thought that maybe we should talk about Morgana, both of us being sworn enemies to her and all." He coughed a little at the end of his statement and Merlin just raised an eyebrow at him (she seemed to be doing a lot of that recently). Then she nodded and led the way back into his temporary tent.

"Lance, Knights of Camelot," she greeted them and sat/tripped onto the floor next to her brother, "I am informed that you are also 'sworn enemies' to Morgana… and all. It probably has something to do with her wanting the throne or something like that. I really wasn't paying all that much attention."

Leon nodded gravely to her and said, "She is the King's half-sister and feels that the throne is rightfully hers. She also believes that she will bring magic back to the land by taking over. Based on the time she took over in the past, well, it wouldn't be good for Camelot or its people."

Arthur chimed in with, "Morgana used to be the ward of my… our father, but then she started practicing magic and its evils corrupted her soul. She didn't have a chance." He finished sadly.

Merlin waved her hand in the general direction of his face, "Magic user here! Hello? Anyway, that sounded like a pretty good deal she offered me and quite frankly, I was tempted to take it. Does she really have that much of a chance of taking over that she's willing to make those kinds of promises?"

Percival, ever the quiet one, answered, "She is training to become a High Priestess of the Old Religion."

The bandit queen whistled softly under her breath and said, "That's impressive, but I don't know of any High Priestesses to train her to be a High Priestess. To my knowledge, Nimueh was the last one."

The blond king's head whipped up and he asked, "You had dealings with Nimueh?"

Merlin scrunched her nose up and said, "I had one dealing and it really didn't end up good for either of us."

Gwaine latched onto that and questioned, "What happened?"

Lancelot smiled at Gwaine's actions and then looked expectantly at his sister. Merlin just rolled her eyes and huffed out a sigh before saying, "Well, I had this friend who was dying, so I went to her as a last resort; nothing else would save that person. Nimueh is all like 'you must trade a life for a life' and I was all like 'I give up my own life for there's'. Nimueh just smiles creepily and says that I have to give the friend the water from the Cup of Life. So I do and the friend gets better and I don't. Then a different friend comes and end up sick and dying, their life for the first friend. I am truly mad by now and go out to once again trade my life for the second friend. When I get there, a third friend has already given up their life for the second friend's. So, I get in a fight with Nimueh which ends up with her dead, me with a giant burn on my chest, and the third friend alive and kicking. Evidently when I killed Nimueh, I traded her life for, what would be in the end, the first friend's life."

Elyan's jaw hung open as he tried to muddle through the story and figure out what happened. Merlin just smiled and said, "That is one of the reasons that I didn't want to tell you this story."

She was about to continue when Loren's voice came from outside the tent, "Riders bearing the Camelot crest are arriving."

In a second, she was all business. Her previously open face shut down and a slight smirk curled up one corner of her lips in her usual business face. She briskly ordered her second in command, "Tie the prisoners up and make sure they are well guarded. We don't want them escaping through all of this."

While she was giving instructions, another bandit ran up, puffing out, "The reports were wrong, ma'am! They aren't just riders, they're a whole army!"


	9. Chapter 9

Merlin raced through the camp, knowing that her second in command would be able to take care of the prisoners. In her mind, she was running through the repertoire of spells she knew, searching for one that would help her now. Although the spell set over the camp was strong enough to keep a small group of enemies out, it was not enough for an army. As evidenced by the mercenary army the day before.

The bandit queen was kind of getting sick of all of the armies and random visitors. She was thinking that this was the last time she ever kidnapped royalty. If they were all like this, then they were not worth the effort. Finally, she realized that the best course of action would be to hide and lead the army somewhere else. The warlock closed her eyes and said, "Friþ þes bæcern ungesewen."

She felt the magic rush through her veins and smiled, throwing her head back and closing her eyes. She could feel the camp become invisible, everyone within it also became invisible. Merlin knew that it couldn't last. The second someone who was not already in the camp came into the area, the spell would break and they would be ripe for the pickings.

Next, the bandit queen gathered her trusted group of about twenty men together and had a group of three men watching the prisoners. She said to her group, "We need to bring the army somewhere else. That means splitting them up and sending them reeling in different directions. I want ten of you, myself including, running into the middle of the group, which will make them go different directions. Next a group of five led by Loren will wait outside the camp, far enough to be seen, but close enough for them to think that this is your area. If anyone comes near, drive them away. Then, the last five, led by Matt, will put on the Camelot cloaks and run through the woods, away from our camp, making the army believe that their king and his knights have escaped and are fleeing through the woods, wary of the sound of hooves striking the ground."

Loren raised an eyebrow at her poetic ending and she just grinned at him. The third group had already left to go put on their cloaks and swords. Then, the others changed.

The fifteen left over curled over onto the ground, their bones stretching and popping into place. Their hair shortened and spread, covering their skin. The clothes and jewelry they wore faded into the magic as the hair covered every inch of them.

Some other bandits watched them in admiration, having seen this before, but loving it every time. Their fellow bandits and their queen had transformed into wolves. In a second, the sound of their queen howling filled the air, echoing through the forest and bouncing back to them. Her Pack followed suit. The sounds of wild wolves dominated the clearing.

And then they were off! Five of them stood their ground just outside the camp, lounging or prowling. The other ten continued to race forward, noting momentarily the red capes fluttering behind the rest of the Pack, the ones that were left in human form. Merlin howled again, loving the feeling of her claws biting into the earth, the clarity of mind and senses, and the wind tearing through her silky fur, ruffling it and swirling it into patterns.

She turned her golden gaze onto the other wolves. Each person had the same color fur as they had hair and they normally had the same eye color. Some humans just randomly changed eye color in wolf form and no one could figure out why. The only difference was with magic users who could turn into wolves. Their eyes were golden and although their fur was the same color as their human hair, it had runes colored into it. Her fur was black with runes that were even darker than her hair, almost blue.

As they raced through the grass, heading towards the spot that the messenger had seen, Merlin reflected on the day she had been hit with the Curse of the Wolf. It was something that the gods would randomly inflict on people. She had been at the campfire, talking with her clan when the she fell over and started to change. At first, the bandits had been worried for her, but then they had realized what was happening and had cheered her on. She had been so confused and scared until someone else changed and told her what was going on.

Merlin soon came to love the feeling of being a wolf and would change as often as she could. Others respected the Cursed, but they didn't truly understand. Only another Cursed could realize how wonderful it felt slipping into wolf form, how it felt like that was the way you were meant to be. Before, she hadn't understood why it was the Curse of the Wolf when it was so wonderful, but then the others explained to her that when you are Cursed, you are also given a destiny to fulfill. There aren't many Cursed because there aren't that many destinies. Merlin's head clan had the largest cluster of Cursed with their twenty.

She was distracted from those thoughts when the army of Camelot came into view. Most were seated on horseback, which would make this that much easier. Horses were terrified of wolves and would go flying, often sending their riders tumbling to the ground as well. That is exactly what happened.

The might of Camelot was reduced to men fleeing in every direction, either trying to catch their horses or get away from the wolves. Merlin heard men come running back towards her from the direction of the camp and knew that Loren's group was doing their job. And then she heard the soldiers shouting about finding the King and the Knights. The entire army either began pursuit or started a weary trek home, which was exactly at Merlin had planned it. She grinned a wolfish grin to her group and started to lead the way back to the camp.

When she finally returned, the queen decided to keep the invisibility spell on the camp up and running just in case. The bandit queen stayed up late into the night, waiting for the last group to return home. When they did, she went into the prisoners' tent and shook them awake. Arthur woke groggily and asked, "What's going on?"

Merlin grinned at him and commented, "You'd think a King would have a faster wake up time." Arthur just glared and she continued, "I just wanted to let you know that we've packed up most of the camp and are going to finish packing it up tomorrow. Then we'll leave and find a new hideout. Your army has been diverted and led away with no deaths and few injuries. The only injuries caused were from their own horses. Now you should sleep until tomorrow morning."

She made to leave, but Leon's voice stopped her, "Where were the wolves' howls coming from?"

Instead of answering the question, Merlin just said softly, "Goodnight." She closed the drape on the tent and walked back to her own tent, where she would rest until the morning, missing the feeling of being in wolf form.


	10. Chapter 10

When Arthur woke again, it was to the sound of the rain pounding on the tent, thunder rumbling through the air, and wolves howling. He bolted upright and scrambled for the sword that wasn't there before grabbing something that could be used as a weapon and creeping out of the tent. A different wolf howled and Arthur realized that they were in the camp right now.

By that time, the other knights had woken and were doing much the same as Arthur. He led them all out of the tent and stalking towards the sound of the wolves.

Arthur and the knights reached the place the howls were coming from and stopped short. In a loose circle around the two creatures, the rest of the bandits were standing, cheering for one or the other, getting soaked to the bone. The king noticed Loren attempting to get everyone to back away and stop the fight (how were they supposed to do that with two hungry wolves?), but he eventually just turned and walked away.

For a few more moments, Arthur and the knights continued to sit there and watch the battle occur, listening to the thunder roar. Then, Merlin's voice cut through the rain, "What is going on here?!" And she sounded mad. Quite frankly, if Arthur had just a smidge less pride, he would have shrunk back from that tone of voice. He never wanted to be on the receiving end of it.

The rest of the bandits cringed away, but the wolves continued on, oblivious. Arthur didn't understand when Merlin called out to the wolves, "Matt! Joshua! What do you two think you're doing? Stop this fighting right now!"

His confusion only increased when Loren leaned over and shouted to be heard above the pounding thunder, "They're too far gone into wolf form! They'll never listen to you like this! You have to hurry! They'll tear each other apart if this goes on any longer!"

Before the blonde prisoner could react, Merlin stared at Lancelot and gave him an apologetic look. His eyes opened wide and then Arthur saw Merlin fall onto her hands and knees. The king tried to rush forward to help her, but Lancelot of all people held him back. That's when the bandit queen started to… change.

Within seconds, her bones had elongated and morphed into something different, muscles becoming more pronounced in different places, and hair (no, fur) growing all over. Within seconds, their captor was a wolf.

Arthur couldn't believe his eyes as Merlin… the wolf… the sorceress… the bandit queen ran towards the fighting wolves and snarled at them. They curled into themselves and whimpered. She nudged her… snout against first one wolf, then the other. They lowered their bellies to the ground and whimpered again and she barked at them. The two smaller wolves barked happily back and gave what could only be described as a wolfish grin.

Merlin rolled her golden eyes and gave a wolfish smile back. The two smaller wolves started to play wrestle while she lay down and rested her head on her forepaws. Arthur took that moment to really get a good look at her. In wolf form, she had the same raven black coloring of her normal hair, but with strange designs etched into it in a deeper black. From behind him, Gwaine said quietly, "What was that?"

The other knights nodded solemnly in agreement, not even noticing the rain pouring down around them anymore. Arthur looked up when he heard footsteps coming closer. He saw Loren standing in front of them. Loren smiled slightly and said, "Come on. We can't have you standing out here and catching a cold. We want you in peak condition when we ransom you off." Arthur knew the second in command was going for light-hearted, but he couldn't quite hide the way he was suspiciously eyeing their obvious glances in Merlin's direction.

Arthur nodded jerkily and started to move back towards their tent, waving his hand for them to continue forward. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Loren stopped Lance and motioned for him to stay. Lancelot nodded woodenly and grabbed the blanket offered to him, not once taking his eyes off his sister's wolf form.

Arthur and his knights stayed in their tent for almost a half an hour before two thoroughly soaked forms walked in through the tent flap. Merlin and Lancelot sat down next to each other with Merlin leaning tiredly on Lance's shoulder. Elyan couldn't contain his outburst, "What was that?!"

Merlin sighed and said, "That is what happens when the gods give someone the Curse of the Wolf. And don't ask me what that is because it's pretty self explanatory." Elyan looked like he was going to say something, but he ended up just sitting back in silence.

Leon addressed his question to Lance, "Did you know?" Lancelot just shook his head and Arthur saw Merlin wince out of the corner of his eye. No wonder Lancelot had seemed so shell-shocked when she… changed.

"How long… has it been like this?" Percival asked hesitantly.

Merlin smiled at Percival (you really couldn't help liking him) and answered, "I don't know. I was about, nine maybe. It's been a while."

Gwaine raised his hand and Merlin smiled and pointed at him. He grinned at her and asked, "Do you like being in… in, um, wolf form?"

This time, when the bandit queen smiled, it was a sad, pained smile and she answered quietly, "Very much." And her voice filled with such longing that it filled Arthur's heart with agony. He didn't know when he had become so attuned to her feelings. They talked for a while longer, until the rain stopped and someone came in and told Merlin that they were almost ready and they just needed her to do some finishing touches. She rose gracefully from the ground and bid them all a farewell, kissing Lance's forehead as she went. After a moment's hesitation, Arthur followed her.

When he finally caught up to her (with some helpful smirk-pointing from Loren), Arthur commented idly, "You know, we never did finish our conversation about your jewelry."

"No. We didn't." Came the completely uninterested sounding reply. Arthur sighed inwardly. He had hoped that he would at least have startled her a little bit. No such luck.

He tried again, "Well, I was thinking that maybe you could continue telling me about it. Like, um, why do you wear those hoop type things in your hair?" He had been about to say hoops, but he saw that they were more like coins with holes in the middle of them.

Merlin shook her head and huffed out a laugh, finally answering, "We spent some time in a desert clan and they got me into the habit of this. It doesn't say anything about my story, other than the fact that I did live with that desert clan for a little bit. Basically, water is scarce and quite frankly is hoarded more than money. When someone wants something from you, or when someone dies, they give you water. The person's water. You can win it in tournaments or in battles. Your best friend wills it to you when they die. Things to that effect. The different sizes represent different numbers. The smallest are ones, the next size up are fives, then tens, and finally twenties. Each number represents a centiliter. What is residing in my hair right now is the amount of water I would be able to get if I were ever to go back to the clan."

Arthur was surprised. He hadn't even realized that they had some place so dry in Albion. Before he could ask for more information, Loren slunk up behind them and said calmly, "The camp is ready for departure." Arthur jumped (though he would deny it later) and turned to look at the camp. It was, indeed, ready for departure. Everything was packed onto wagons that Arthur hadn't even realized were there and the knights were all tied to the back of one wagon, pulling up the rear of the caravan.

When Arthur turned back to Merlin, she was holding out the rope to tie him to the wagon as well. He smiled wryly at her as she started to tie it around him. He had no idea, none at all, why his heart started to pound and butterflies took flight in his stomach when Merlin smiled back.


	11. Chapter 11

"Wait, what?" Lancelot turned around at Gwaine's incredulous tone of voice. He watched through the fading light as one of the bandits pointed impatiently to a box and said something too low for Lance to hear. Gwaine shook his head and said, "Uh no. You guys imprisoned us. We don't have to do your chores for you. I mean, we're nice enough to do the dishes and occasionally make the meal, but I am not unpacking your stuff to remake my prison!" Gwaine had been like this for the past two weeks of constant moving, attempting to avoid Camelot patrols.

Sir Lancelot rolled his eyes and sent out a message to his sister, Hey Merlin, do you see what's going on over here? He was confused when she sent back, Do you?

Before he got a chance to respond, Gwaine shrieked and jumped about a foot in the air. The usual drunk turned wide-eyed to see Merlin wiggle a few smoking fingers at him. Lance barely held back the laughter as he watched Gwaine look from Merlin's smoking fingers, to his singed pants and back to her fingers. Eventually, he said loudly, "You shot me."

The bandit queen tilted her head slightly to the side and said, "I don't think that's the correct terminology."

From right next to Lance, the king laughed suddenly and Lancelot turned to look at him inquisitively. Arthur just smiled at him and continued unpacking his box. The knight ducked his head and smiled to himself. He knew he wasn't the only one to notice the increasing crush Merlin and Arthur had on each other. In fact, he thought that they were the only ones to not notice. He personally approved of the match. They would make a great pair, each smoothing out the other's rough edges. Suddenly, Merlin called out to Lance, Hey, get the king and other knights into your tent and have them stay there after we've finished unpacking.

Why? Lancelot began, What's going on? He could hear her tinkling laugh from over where he was. He smiled to himself at the startled looks of everyone near her. She answered back sweetly, There's nothing wrong, you worry wart! Today's just one of the best holidays in bandit history!

Lance sent a smug grin her way and said, Well, I think after over two weeks helping you guys set up camp and cleaning your dishes and basically becoming bandits that we should get to join in the festivities as well. Do we get an induction ceremony to name us official members of the bandit clan?

The noble knight was too busy concentrating on his thought message and unpacking his box that he didn't notice his sister walking behind him. Before she answered, she smacked him in the head and said out loud, "No, you don't." From all around them, the bandits and other knights gave them strange looks. Only Loren, Merlin, and Lancelot himself knew of the telepathic link (Merlin had Loren on a 'different thread' as she called it, but they also had a 'shared thread' with the three of them. Lance didn't know where she got the names for these things from). Lancelot literally felt the shift in his head as Merlin changed threads to the one that all three were on.

Merlin asked Loren, Did you hear what Lance just said to me?

He answered back drily, Obviously not. Lancelot threw in a mental snort and felt Merlin's glare on his back. He rolled his eyes as the silence stretched for a moment. Loren eventually said, You going to share with me what he said to you? Lance laughed again, but missed the rest of the conversation when someone smacked his arm.

He reached for his sword, once again forgetting that it wasn't there, but started breathing easier when he saw it was Mordred. He breathed out, "You startled me, Mordred."

Gwaine raised an eyebrow at him and Lance could hear Loren and Merlin talking in his head, but couldn't discern what they were saying because he was trying to focus on the others. Gwaine commented loudly, "It's pretty easy to 'startle' you nowadays, Lancelot. You've been in your own world the past couple of weeks. Thinking about Gweneviere?" Lancelot blushed deep red and Elyan smacked Gwaine upside the head. The group of captives dissipated as they tried to help either Elyan or Gwaine in pummeling each other or they went back to their designated tasks.

Ever since Lancelot had worked up the courage to tell Elyan that he liked the man's sister, the others had teased him mercilessly about it. He and Elyan always got embarrassed when the topic came up and if Lance was ever around Gwen at the same time as any of the other Knights of the Round Table, he stuttered over all of his words. He just couldn't get some of Gwaine's more… indecorous comments out of his mind when he saw her.

Suddenly his sister's voice pulled to the front of his mind, saying, You know, it's worth you not listening our conversation just to see you blush like that. What did they say?

Nothing, Lance answered quickly. Once again, Merlin's tinkling laugh settled over the camp, this time accompanied by Loren's short one. The knight's eyes settled on Arthur's form for a second, watching how the king smiled and straightened every time he heard Merlin laugh or say something. Lance continued, Anyway, what were you talking about? How do you guys even do everything you do while talking like this. I can barely walk straight when we do this and you guys fight battles, hold conversations, and do everything under the sun. It's not fair.

Merlin answered quickly saying, It's obviously because I'm just that much more awesome than you. She sent a smirk his way and continued, Not really, I mean, I am more awesome than you, but that's not the reason why I can do this better than you. You know now that Loren and I are Cursed. In our wolf form, we can only really communicate in telepathic form so we get used to it in wolf form. Lance inwardly winced at the obvious longing painting her voice. She said that the reason it was 'Curse' of the Wolf was because they were cursed with destinies, but he secretly thought that the curse came from the want to be in wolf form. It could drive someone mad.

He was torn out of those dark thoughts by Loren mentally shaking his head, To answer your original question, we were talking about your idea of joining in the festivities. He paused and Lance held his breath. He hadn't really been serious when he had suggested it, but now that they were actually considering it, the knight wanted it to actually happen. Loren continued, This is one of the most sacred ceremonies in all of the bandit communities. We cannot let just anybody participate in it and even if we could, it takes months to learn how to do it correctly. However, we can let you watch the ceremony if you are at least interested in that.

Absolutely, Lance answered quickly, At least, I know I am. I'm sure most of the other knights would love it too. Percival lives for learning about different cultures and Gwaine would do anything if it involved either a party or ale, and of course the King would do it just to see more of Merlin. The knight was too busy laughing and listening to Loren's original laugh that he didn't notice the flying projectile sailing toward his face. Before he knew it, Mordred had leapt in front of him and caught the foam ball in the chest. His breath whooshed out and he fell to the ground.

Within an instant, Merlin was there, laughing but trying not to. She grinned at Mordred as she helped the younger man up. For a second, he just stared at her before he started laughing with her. Soon, almost the whole camp was laughing with them and together they set up the camp, captors and captives alike.

When they were done unpacking, Merlin came over and explained to them that the bandits were celebrating a holiday that day and that the prisoners were required to stay out of the way and quiet during the formal part of the celebration, but that they could dance and feast with the rest of them when the time came. The others were surprised, but quickly agreed, intrigued about what they could be celebrating.

Some of the bandits went into their tents while the others started pulling logs around the fire, with a blanket set up for the knights and king off to the side.

Finally, the bandits that had been in their tents came out and filed to the front. Merlin was dressed beautifully. She had on a royal purple dress that ruffled out at the chest area and flattened out over her stomach. The entire torso part of the dress was decorated with silver embroidering that made up a design that Lancelot couldn't quite make out from his distance. She had translucent sleeves that billowed out before closing ranks again around her wrists. The dress flowed out below her in billows and folds and waves, cinched at the waist with a silver belt that held an obsidian sword. All of her jewelry was on, decorating her fingers, toes, arms, legs, neck, and hair. For once she wasn't wearing her almost constant neckerchief. Her hair was loose and swirling around her shoulders and thin waist, only clumping together at the braids that held her water coins, ribbons, and other paraphernalia. She was standing tall in silver heels.

Arthur gasped in surprise beside Lance and all of the knights grinned to themselves (except Gwaine, who full-out smirked at him). Suddenly Merlin started speaking and for once, her voice was completely serious and devoid of her usual devilish character. It was the voice of a queen, "Today marks the most sacred day in Bandit history. Today is the birth of our Kingdom hundreds of years ago. We are a nomadic people who have spread to cover the world and are strong enough that, should we wish it, we could conquer every kingdom." Lance noticed that next to her, the other bandits who had gone into their tents were behind a screen with fire playing behind it. As she spoke, they would act it out or hold up shapes to show what she was saying. It was amazing to watch.

Merlin continued as Lance and the other knights watched the translucent screen, "Five hundred and fifty years ago, a man named Alexander walked the earth. He was a powerful sorcerer, but he and his family lived a poor life as serfs on an evil man's land. One day, he decided that he was going to liberate himself and all of the families who were being worked to death in the fields under the corrupt King Gepetto in the city. He begged the gods and goddesses to help him because he knew he couldn't defeat them by himself.

"The gods responded by sending King Gepetto on a wild goose chase that they warned Alexander would last three days. He had that much time to come up with a plan and convince the other families to join him. At first, he thought that he couldn't do it. He was never trained in his magic and there was no way that they would rebel against the King and his men. It was too risky. When he asked for guidance, the Triple Goddess finally aided him in saying, 'Use your gifts.' That was all she said, but he knew what she meant immediately. When Alexander had gathered the families together, he lifted his arms and formed a storm behind him, tearing at the trees and snapping lightning at them, filling the air with roaring thunder.

"When he lowered his hands, the storm dissipated within seconds. The families stared at him in amazement. He told them that he was planning on freeing them from the city, but he would need their help to do it. They agreed readily, knowing that the man before them had the approval of the gods. King Gepetto returned in the three days promised and by then Alexander had his plan.

"He ran up and punched one of the King's guards. He was thrown in the dungeon and a formal hearing was called to announce his execution. While he was in the dungeons, he worked each guard, convincing most of them to join him against the King. Evidently it was almost as bad for most of them as it was for the serfs. When Alexander was brought up to the throne room, the guards made sure that he could easily slip his chains off when the time was right.

"The moment before King Gepetto announced his definite execution, the guards on his side and the serfs all stood at once. The corrupt leader spluttered in rage, but was suddenly thrown back against his chair with a burst of magic. That same burst hit his closest guards and sent them spinning into the wall, killing them. Around him, the serfs of his city and turned guards killed and knocked unconscious the other guards and nobles. When every enemy had been immobilized, Alexander stepped up to the King and pulled out a contract one of the guards had written up stating that all of the turned guards and serfs were set free and would receive as much supplies and money as they wished from any part of his land. The King had no other choice and signed the paper.

"After that, they grabbed what they wanted and set off to the forest. From then on out, we became the Bandits and raided all of the kingdoms and baronies as is our right so signed by the King when he was King of all of Albion. We have been outlaws for all of our existence and blessed by the gods, especially our patron goddess, the Triple Goddess for just as long. Today celebrates the birth of our Kingdom." Merlin finished.

It had taken almost an hour for her to tell the story with the bandits acting it out behind her. Lancelot, the knights, and their king sat back in amazement. No one knew all of that about the bandits and they all wondered why they wouldn't just show people the contract. It didn't matter now. The prisoners watched as every person from the Clan told the story of how they became a bandit and then Loren and Merlin had a formal dance that was changed slightly to accommodate the fact that Merlin was a girl in a very long dress and heels on slightly uneven grass.

After the dance, the two smiled widely at each other, throwing their arms around each other's necks and laughing. They then bowed. Merlin was just straightening when a voice called out from in the forest, "We're here! Now where is our King and our Knights?"


	12. Chapter 12

Merlin muttered under her breath, "Of course they have to come today. Of all days they had to come today."

Loren heard her and smiled encouragingly before frowning and asking, "How did they know where we are? We didn't send out a new location for them to find us. I know they weren't watching us and following us. We covered our tracks. I had people make sure that the knights and their king didn't leave a trail. There is no way they could have found us!" He made sure to keep his voice quiet because, really, there was only one way they could have found the bandit encampment.

Merlin snarled quietly to him, "There's a traitor!" The bandit queen closed her eyes briefly and breathed in. She called out to the others, "Let the feasting begin! Eat well and eat a lot! Keep a close eye on the prisoners, though." She and Loren walked lightly out of the camp, heading towards where they had heard the voice.

They came up behind the small group, observing them for a moment before they moved in. There was a young woman with darker skin and chocolate brown eyes and slightly frizzy brown hair. She was not very tall, but she stood with a confidence around her that was rare in most women. Next was an older man with shoulder length whitish-gray hair and serious eyes. One eyebrow was set perpetually higher than the other. Finally, there was a slightly overweight man with bushy eyebrows and a white beard and mustache. He had a large bald spot on his forehead.

After looking to Loren for confirmation, the head and second in command of the bandit clan stepped out of the bushes, seeming to materialize out of thin air in front of the group. The woman gasped and fell back slightly, but was steadied by the one with long white hair. Merlin really needed to learn their names. She was getting all confused about them in her head. For a moment there was silence, until the one with bushy eyebrows spoke up, "I am Geoffrey, the bookkeeper at Camelot. With me are Gaius the Court Physician and Lady Gweneviere, sister of one of your captives, Sir Elyan."

Merlin adopted a slightly bored expression and raised a single eyebrow at the group. Gweneviere was not at all cowed. She stood even straighter and said, "We brought money and you said that if we brought money, you would let our knights and our King go."

"You said that you brought money. Did you bring all of the money, or just money? I require my entire ransom demand to be paid before releasing my captives." Merlin said icily.

Gaius coughed to get her attention and said, "We weren't able to get all of the money yet because we need access to the treasure vault to get it. Only King Arthur has that key. We are working on creating a new one, but we need time."

The bandit queen shrugged and said, "You have a little over a week and a half before we kill your king and his knights. Bring all of the money by then and we'll set them free. Until then, well, let's just say our business is done here."

She was turning away when Gweneviere called out, "Wait, please! Can we see them? Just to make sure that they are alive and being treated well. We came in a small group like you asked and we can give you the money that we already have as a gesture of faith. Just… please."

Merlin shared a look with Loren and, without them even needing to communicate telepathically; he walked away, knowing exactly what she wanted. Merlin smiled to herself and said, "The money if you please?" Gweneviere looked as if she was going to give it to her, but Geoffrey grabbed her wrist and shook his head, indicating that they should wait. The chocolate haired noble hesitated for a moment before putting her hand down.

Not long after, Loren came back with Arthur and the others tied together at the ankles with enough slack on the rope to let them interact with the group. Merlin smiled as all of them bowed/curtsied quickly to their king before Gweneviere launched herself at Elyan. Mordred engulfed Gaius in a hug while the older man ruffled his hair. Gwaine stood to the side and started up a conversation with Geoffrey who looked like he would rather do anything but that. Over Elyan's shoulder, Gweneviere said hello to Arthur, Leon, and Percival. Then her gaze caught Lance's and she immediately let go of Elyan, flying towards Lance and wrapping her arms around his neck. She buried her nose into his shoulder and said softly, "I was so scared when you didn't come back." Elyan stood to the side, looking slightly bemused.

Lancelot whispered back, "I know, Gwen. Thank you for coming and for getting them to let us see you." She hummed back happily and there was a pause for a moment before Lance pulled back slightly and stared into Gwen's eyes. She looked at him confused before he smiled and kissed her on the lips. Merlin and Elyan's eyebrows went way up and Elyan even had his jaw hanging open.

Merlin hid a smile and called out, "Um, Lance? Is there something you wanted to tell me about?"

Gaius, Gwen, and Geoffrey looked at the two, startled, but Lancelot just smiled and said, "Well, there wasn't anything really to tell you. I've loved her for a while, but never had the courage to tell her. This was me telling her." He smiled at her again and she smiled back.

The warlock turned to the blonde king next to her and ignored the way the sunlight hitting his golden locks made her stomach twist up inside, "Arthur, how long has Lance liked her and why was I not told of this? I could have made so many more jokes!"

Arthur ducked his head to hide a smile and, seeing all of the love (familial or romantic) all around her coupled with his gorgeous face and special personality, Merlin realized with a start that she was falling for Arthur and falling hard. She had never really liked someone before and never like this. Her heart skipped a beat and her breath caught and it was like she could finally see him. Everything was suddenly crystal clear. Loren broke the moment by saying, with a hint of laughter in his voice, "We would appreciate the money now."

Gwen nodded hastily and held Merlin's brother's hand with one of her own and grabbed a large bag off of one of the horses grazing idly behind her. Leaving Loren to deal with the money, Merlin gestured to Gaius that they should separate from the group a little bit. The old physician frowned at her in confusion, but followed her anyway. When they came to a halt, Merlin said bluntly, "We know that there is a traitor in our midst and we will know if you tell him any of this. If you do tell him, all of the captives smiling and laughing over there will die. So, I recommend that you don't tell the traitor anything about this conversation and that you give me his name."

Gaius took a deep breath and said, "We do not know who it is. Someone simply continues to give us anonymous and accurate tips and we follow then."

Merlin frowned and thought for a second before saying, "What method is used to deliver this traitorous information?"

The old man immediately answered, "It comes by raven."

Merlin nodded and turned quickly, heading back towards the group. As she passed Loren, she telepathically said, Watch them. I've narrowed the suspect pool down a bit and am going to narrow it further while they are busy. If you want to, I can send others to switch places with you. I imagine they could go all night catching up.

He responded quickly, Be careful, and yes, that would be great if you could send someone else up. I'll make a list for people to switch out over the course of the night and I'll set up supplies for a fire and blankets as well as making sure they are fed. Tell me if you find the traitor. She nodded stiffly back to him, ignoring the odd looks she got from the knights and Arthur.

When she got down to the camp, she immediately sent Joshua out to the forest, ignoring his protesting. She gathered Edwin Muirden, Agravaine de Bois, and Cedric Crook with her and brought them to the far edge of the camp. She smiled sardonically at them and said, "I'm planning on implementing a message system run by ravens. Since you are some of my best messengers, I figured that you ought to be the ones to know. Do any of you know how to train ravens already?" She knew that they would admit to knowing how to do it because all three of them tended to enjoy attention and would do anything to get into the good favor of their queen.

It came as no surprise as, a few seconds later, Agravaine gave her an oily smile and said, "I know how to train ravens, my lady and I have sent messages by them before. I'm sure I could teach the others how to train them."

Merlin had known there was going to be a traitor in the Clan. She had known that it had to be one of the messengers because they were the only ones that could come and go freely from the camp with no one noticing. There was a constant stream of messages from the other clans that needed to be dealt with. She had known that it was one of those three messengers because they had all stared at Morgana with an unhealthy-awe when she had infiltrated the camp. She had know it was one of those three because they were all missing for a longer-than-usual amount of time shortly after Morgana visited.

Somehow, it still hurt to know that she had been betrayed by one of her own, but at least, she had found the traitor. Agravaine de Bois, outlawed brother to Queen Ygraine of Camelot. Arthur Pendragon's uncle.


	13. Chapter 13

It had been three days since Gaius, Geoffrey, and Gwen had come to visit and Arthur could sense a changing mood in the camp. The bandits all seemed anxious, knowing that the prisoners would be gone soon and they could start raiding again. Mordred was more quiet than usual after having been reminded of what he missed. Arthur knew that he and his guardian, Gaius, shared a close bond. Gwaine was even more bored than usual and Leon and Percival didn't seem to know what to do with themselves so close to their impending freedom. Lancelot kept adopting a lovesick expression and whenever he and Elyan talked, they would both stumble over their words and become sheepish. Then there was Merlin and Loren. The two stalked everywhere they went; they never walked. All the bandits and prisoners threw themselves out of their way and made sure that contact was minimal. Arthur didn't know what it was that was making them so upset, but hoped in the deepest part of his heart that Merlin was upset because he was leaving soon.

The king didn't know when he realized it. It was a sudden thing, coming up out of nowhere and taking him whole. He loved Merlin. There was no doubt about it. He got butterflies in his stomach when he talked to her and his heart skipped a beat every time she laughed. He couldn't stop noticing the way the sun made her hair look almost blue or how her eyes became a lighter shade when she was happy. Arthur loved how independent she was and he loved their banter and her clumsy ways. In his mind, there was nothing wrong about her. She was perfect.

Except for the little thing that he had no idea if she loved him back. For a while, he would have said that, yes, she has a definite crush, but now, she hadn't talked to him in almost three days and he wasn't sure what was wrong. Arthur shrugged to himself and decided that he might as well find out.

He caught up to her when she stopped outside her tent, hidden from the rest of the camp. Arthur called out, "Hey, Merlin! How are you today?" Inwardly, he winced. That sounded ridiculous.

Merlin turned to face him and said, "I'm fine, thank you for asking. How are you?" Her voice was emotionless, flat.

He answered hesitantly, "I'm fine, but I don't think you are. You've been very… angry the past few days. Why?" Again he winced at his not-so-eloquent way of putting things.

It seemed to work, however, since Merlin deflated. Arthur was surprised when she fell forward slightly and rested her head on the front of his shoulder. The King of Camelot had absolutely no idea what to do. This had never happened to him before! Is he supposed to hug her? Or just talk to her? What was she even doing?

He gained control of his mental facilities and slung an arm around her shoulder, pulling her in so her cheek rested on his shoulder. They stood there for a second before Merlin sighed deeply. She leaned back and when Arthur tried to take his arm from around her shoulder, she reached over herself to grab it and keep it in place. He froze for a second before putting it back around her shoulder. The bandit queen closed her eyes breathed deeply. Then she opened them up again and to Arthur it was like a treasure chest opening to reveal shimmering jewels. She smiled sadly and commanded quietly, "Ask me anything. Just ask me something random and not related to right here, right now."

He smiled down at her, but her head was already buried in his shoulder. He thought for a moment and settled on, "What do the earrings on your non-dragon ear mean?"

She huffed out a laugh and answered, "I have one for each year I've lived. The brown ones are the years I wasn't a bandit and the black ones are the years I was one." Arthur looked at her ear, silently counting. There were five brown ones, which fit what Lancelot had told them that first day that she was five when her village burned down. Running up the ear and doubling back down again were fourteen black ones. She was nineteen. Arthur thought back to that day only about three weeks ago when he first saw her. She was just as beautiful then as she was now.

Then his mind skipped to three days ago seeing Lancelot kissing Gwen. He thought ruefully that he might as well give it a shot. He leaned back and waited for her to look up at him. He put a finger underneath her chin and lifted it slightly. Her eyes smoldered back at him and he leaned down and kissed her. It was the most amazing thing he had ever experienced. Arthur had a brief moment of regret when he thought about what his father would think, but then he figured that she was a queen and that should be good enough.

As the kiss stretched on, Arthur thought even more deeply about what he was doing. He grasped with a start that he was kissing a sorceress! When did he stop thinking about her like that? When did that stop bothering him? He figured that it was when they had tried to escape. That was the same day he had been captured. So much had happened that day and Merlin had managed to change his entire views on magic-users in a single day. Well, he thought, it was worth it to be kissing her like this in this moment.

When they both came up for air, Merlin smiled against Arthur's lips and whispered wonderingly, "I think I love you."

Arthur smiled back and kissed her lightly before whispering back, "I know I love you." Merlin full out grinned and pushed his shoulder gently.

Just then, Loren stalked around the corner. His black gaze swept over them quickly and he shrugged before smirking and saying, "There are some people here to see you, Merlin." His smirk faltered a little bit as the wind picked up and ruffled his short, spiky, black hair. He spoke again, "We should leave here soon. There's a bad storm coming." Merlin's eyes widened and she looked in the direction he was looking. They must have seen something that he didn't or gotten some secret message in his words because Merlin's face shut down and she stalked away with Loren in tow. Arthur just threw his hands in the air and ambled back towards the prisoner tent.

When he got back, the only person there was Lancelot. His face heated up and he turned to leave when Lance called out, "Oh, hey, Arthur! I was actually going to go looking for you. Merlin seems really mad about something and I can't figure out what it is. She won't tell me. Is there any chance you could ask her for me? Maybe she'll answer you."

Without thinking, Arthur blurted out, "I kissed her!"

Lancelot's mouth opened and closed a few times before eventually saying, "Oh. Okay."

Arthur stood there tensely for a minute, feeling not at all like a king until Mordred stuck his head into the tent and said, "Merlin's calling for all of the prisoners to come to the front of the camp right now. Do you think we're going free?"

The two shrugged and Lance gave Arthur a look that said that they'd talk about that later. Arthur didn't know why. It wasn't like he didn't already know that they liked each other. Arthur was willing to admit that everyone had known before them. Either way, he walked out of the tent and followed his knights to the front of the camp. The blonde king frowned when he realized that most of the bandits were grouped there too, whispering among themselves.

The King and his knights pushed to the front and almost hid behind the bandits again when they saw Merlin. She had on her usual 'business face' except her normal smirk was replaced with a snarl and her eyes were dark with rage. Arthur looked around to find the source of her anger and saw a man tied up on the ground about ten feet away from her. Loren was holding him down with his foot. Arthur turned back towards Merlin when she started talking, "A few days ago, Loren and I realized that there was a traitor in the camp feeding information about us to the people of Camelot indirectly. He was giving it first to Morgana, a sworn enemy of the Clan. I narrowed it down to one man. This is the traitor! Agravaine de Bois who has been exiled from almost every place he ever lived! He is hereby exiled from the Bandit community and given to the people of Camelot!"

At the name, Arthur swung his gaze around to land on the traitor again. That was his uncle! That was his mother's brother! He didn't get a chance to do anything about it because the bandits behind him roughly tied his hands together behind his back and threw a blindfold over his eyes. From the sound of struggling all around him, he figured that his knights were receiving the same treatment.

They were tied together and shoved forward, following the pull of the lead rope. Arthur could hear two other sets of footsteps, both whisper light and assumed that they were Loren's and Merlin's.

After fifteen minutes of walking in what seemed to be circles, Arthur heard Gwen gasp Lancelot's name and he smiled to himself. They were finally going home! Then it hit him. Merlin wouldn't be there with him! He would probably never see Merlin again. No! This wasn't right! He loved her and he was supposed to end up with her and stay with her forever!

Before he could say anything, he heard the thump of what he could only assume was Agravaine's body and he felt a soft breath on his ear before Merlin's sweet, lilting voice whispered in his ear, "Goodbye Arthur." And then she was gone. He could hear her and Loren's retreating footsteps as Geoffrey, Gaius, and Gwen untied them and removed their blindfolds.

By the time everyone was free, the two bandit leaders were long gone and Arthur just stared after them forlornly. She was gone.


	14. Chapter 14

Leon took a steadying breath before walking into the throne room. He knew that the only people in there would be the knights, but he was still nervous. The news he came bearing were not good at all and his king was already not in the best of moods. Ever since they had been released from the bandit camp three weeks ago, Arthur had been brooding and snappish. Leon knew that the King had had feelings for the bandit queen – everyone at the camp knew – but he didn't think it went this deep. He had never even told the strong woman that he liked her! Or, at least, Leon didn't think he did. The glances that Lancelot and Arthur shared seemed to indicate that something more went on that the rest of the knights weren't privy to, but it was starting to get ridiculous either way.

In the past three weeks alone, Arthur had managed to get four different servants to quit and had alienated most of his friends. By this point, Mordred wouldn't even speak to his king, meaning that Gaius wouldn't either. On top of that, Agravaine was still in the dungeons under close watch. Arthur hadn't decided what to do with him yet. It was a tense situation that was about to get even worse.

Arthur's head lifted as Leon walked through. He sighed loudly and snapped, "What is it, Leon?"

Leon swallowed and ignored the urge to snap back at Arthur, "I have bad news, milord." Gwaine sighed louder than Arthur and Leon tried to ignore the stricken look that Gwen gave her love. The first knight continued, "Morgana has been sighted, but she's not alone. With her are the sorceress Morgause and an army. We've been told that the warriors cannot die. They are… somehow immortal, but not like the ones we faced before, who were immortal from drinking from the cup of life. These ones are different. They're stronger than normal humans and faster. I am afraid that we cannot defeat them and Morgana is getting more and more warriors as she goes, promising them immortality if they fight this battle for her."

Arthur's jaw cracked as he worked it. The knight could practically see the ideas that flew through his mind, separating and binding and coming together until… it all crumbled down. He saw the same thing Leon had. There was no way to defeat these creations. Then Lancelot spoke up, "Merlin told me a story about something that sounds like these things." Everyone winced; they had all learned by now to not mention Merlin.

The king leaned forward in his seat and asked tightly, "Is there any particular reason you chose to enlighten us of that fact?"

Something dark passed through Gwaine's eyes next to Lance, but a look from the younger knight stopped the drunkard from acting on it. Lance spoke quietly, but surely, "Yes, there is. She never got to finish the story, but she told me that there was a way to defeat the immortal warriors. I'm just saying that maybe we should go try to find her and get her to come back and help us. One thing, though. There is a great chance that she won't help us. This is not her land and she's already made an enemy of Morgana. She probably wants to stay neutral for the sake of her people." He shrugged.

The knights all looked to their king, waiting to see how he would react. The reaction was milder than they were expecting when he simply said, "I can't leave my kingdom when an army is coming to try to track down some unlikely aid."

Lancelot, emboldened now, said, "You don't have to. Gwaine, Percival, and I can go searching for her while you and the others get ready for the army to come. We'll do our best to convince her to at least come to the castle so you can convince her to help. I'm sure we can convince her to do that." When Leon saw the expression of hope Lancelot wore, he realized with a start that the noble knight truly missed his sister and just wanted to see her again, to make sure she was still safe.

When Arthur nodded his assent, Leon realized that the king also wanted to see her again and to make sure that she was still safe. Then it occurred to him that he wanted to see Merlin again and make sure that she was still safe. What was it about that girl that inspired such love and wonder? What was it about her that saved everyone she met?


	15. Chapter 15

Lancelot had been pulling on his magical connection to Merlin for half a day now and he was exhausted. If Gwaine or Percival could tell, they weren't letting on, choosing instead to listen when the knight insisted that they continue on. He thought that they were as anxious to see Merlin again as he was. Somehow they all were. It didn't matter anymore that she was a bandit, that she had kidnapped them, or that she was a sorceress. All that mattered was that she had become their friend and she made everything seem brighter. And the fact that she could make Arthur happy and not this obnoxious prat that he was now.

Finally Lancelot halted his horse, Gwaine and Percival stopped curiously behind him. He panted out, "I need to stop. We should rest here tonight and go again in the morning. I didn't realize that doing this would be so hard."

"Its only hard if you don't have magic." Gwaine jumped and swung around in his saddle to face the voice that had come out of nowhere. Suddenly, looking around, Lancelot realized that they were completely surrounded. The knights hadn't heard anything. Looking back towards the direction of the voice, Lance saw Merlin standing there; hand on hip and a smirk adorning her elfish features.

Lancelot smiled at his sister and said, "I was looking for you." He frowned and continued, "Wait. The link still said that I had a while to go until we caught up with you."

Merlin grinned at him, "That's probably because I looped the link around a rock a while back and have been circling around. I felt you pulling on it and wanted to see what was going on before I talked to you."

"That… doesn't even make sense, mate, but I'm just glad to see you again." Gwaine said, nodding his head sagely afterwards. Merlin's brow crinkled and she just looked at him in confusion for a second.

Loren decided to break the moment by speaking lightly, "We've talked about this and we are not going to help you with your problem. It has nothing to do with us and there is nothing that your king could give us that would compensate for the potential loss of life, the waste of time that could be used raiding, and the solidification of an enemy. You should find someone else to help you."

Percival, ever quiet, spoke up then, "Will you not even tell us how to defeat these things?"

The bandit queen shook her head before making a strange hand signal. As suddenly as they appeared, the other bandits (except Loren) were gone, blended into the woods. She motioned for them to sit down, using her magic to clear a spot on the ground for them. Finally, she said, "No, I cannot tell you. If Morgana defeats you, which is likely, then she will know that we gave you the information to defeat the warriors. Even if you defeat her army, she will still escape knowing the strength of her power and she will know that we gave you the information. Either way the Bandits are exposed to an unnecessary risk. I am not willing to take that risk."

Gwaine frowned, obviously trying to think of a way to convince her of their thoughts. Lancelot broke in first, sharing a look with his fellow knight, "Then come with us. Just come to the court of Camelot, no tricks, no strings attached. All we want from you is to listen. Please, do this at the very least."

The look on Merlin's face said that she very much did not want to go, but Lance could tell from the quick glance she sent Loren that the second in command was attempting to convince her to travel to the city with them. After a terse pause, Merlin's shoulders slumped and she sighed out, "Fine. I'll come with you, but that is all I am promising right now." She gave them a sharp look, as if daring them to comment.

Gwaine said lightly, "Thanks, mate."

Lancelot turned to Loren and mouthed, "Thank you," to him. The bandit smiled and melted into the trees, returning about a minute later with Merlin's horse. The noble knight spared no thought on the creature, choosing to instead leap onto his own horse's saddle. In less than a minute, the three of them were galloping off back towards Camelot.

MERLINMERLINMERLINMERLINMERLINMERLINMERLINMERLINMERLINMERLIN

By the time the trio made it back to the castle, the sun was setting. They had passed streams of people as they cantered lightly through the streets and Merlin asked quietly, her keen eyes searching the streets and the faces of the weary travelers, "Why are all these people here?"

Surprisingly, it was Percival who answered, "Arthur has ordered everyone to come into Camelot where it's safest. A lot of enemy armies attack and pillage the villages they pass through, so the King will bring them all here to protect them." Lancelot smiled to himself; it seemed like his sister made everyone more talkative.

Merlin frowned, saying, "It doesn't make sense. Wouldn't you split the people up and hide them? This way they're all in the same place and ripe for the pickings of the enemy."

This time Gwaine answered, more serious than usual, "We don't have enough resources to keep the hidden people safe. We'd have to employ soldiers to protect all of them because otherwise their deaths would be our fault. And if we did send soldiers to them, then there wouldn't be enough to fight the army." The ride was silent until they reached the castle. Lancelot knew that Merlin had the chance to see it earlier, but she had been too busy staring into the faces of the peasants traversing the roads. Her reaction was worth the wait, though.

Gwaine and Lance both laughed as her mouth dropped slightly and her eyes sparkled with a curious and amazed light. Even Percival smiled as Merlin unconsciously slowed her horse down and craned her neck back to try to see the top of the castle. Before anyone could comment on it, however, Gwen came rushing out the door. Lance leapt off his horse and ran towards her, not even caring that he had ridden hard all day and probably smelled awful. They embraced and Lance reveled in the thought that this wonderful, beautiful, amazing, kind woman accepted him and loved him in the same way he loved her. As he spun her around, he caught sight of Merlin smiling gently at the scene. He wished that she and Arthur could have the same fate as him and Gweneviere.

Just then Leon ambled out of the castle doors and smirked knowingly at all of them. Gwaine smirked back and Lance and Gwen finally broke their embrace, blushing furiously. Merlin adopted her usual smug expression and Percival just continued to look on mildly. Merlin quirked up a corner of her mouth and said lightly, "Miss me?"

Leon laughed and motioned her to come inside. She nodded and turned to her horse, gently whispering something to it. Lance doubted that anyone else saw her eyes flash a molten gold. The horse turned around and started walking towards the stables. It was only then that Lancelot realized that there was no saddle on the horse. She had been riding bare back for half a day. He winced in sympathy for her, but she didn't seem to be at all perturbed.

The now group of five walked through the castle, stopping every few paces for the bandit queen of the five kingdoms to gawk at something or another. As they rounded one of the corners, a guard flew up the hall, stumbling to a stop when he saw Leon. He puffed out, "The traitor… Agravaine… escaped… couldn't stop it… came at us… random wind storm… can't get into… throne room… doors won't… open."

Leon took a moment to tell the guard to get the other guards and the knights ready for battle at any moment. Then he started to run to towards the throne room, Lancelot and the others following close behind.

When they made it to the throne room, the door were, in fact, sealed shut. Gwaine and Percival slammed on the doors and called out, but the people in the room either couldn't hear him, or couldn't answer. Lancelot turned to Gwen and quickly asked her to gather the serving staff and hide them somewhere.

They continued to pound and scream at the door for another minute or so before Merlin spoke up, hesitation lining her words, "Would any of you feel particularly murderous if I used magic to open this door?"

A pause and then: "Do it. We have to save our King, no matter what." It was Leon who had spoken.

Merlin nodded solemnly and placed her hand on the wood, a wisp of black hair falling into her eye and said, "Ic ealdordóm þes hlínduru æt ætýnan." Lancelot realized he was holding his breath as nothing happened for a second. No one move and then suddenly… the door handle turned slightly and left the large door slightly ajar.

Gwaine whispered jovially, "You couldn't have made that a bit more… well, awesome?"

Merlin just glared at him and snuck inside the small crack. Percival pushed the door open further and crept inside. Lancelot and the others followed. What they saw in there took their breath away.

Sitting on the throne (again) was Morgana, a crown adorning her silky waves. Standing behind her with her hand on the paler girl's shoulder was Morgause, looking deranged with a creepy smile marring her otherwise beautiful features. Agravaine was smirking from several feet behind the throne. Geoffrey was, once again, surrounded by guards with the crowning gear stowed safely behind him. Lance figured that he'd already read the new Queen her duties. Gaius was also heavily guarded just beside the librarian. On the floor were the tied up forms of Mordred and Elyan. And, in the center of the throne room, lying in a huge, growing pool of blood, was none other than King Arthur of Camelot.


	16. Chapter 16

Leon went to rush forward and aid his King and fallen comrades, but Merlin held him back, holding a finger to her lips and creeping quietly into the room, ducking into a crouch and successfully crab walking into the throne room before creeping quickly behind a pillar. Leon, Lancelot, Percival, and Gwaine all followed her lead. Merlin was especially impressed when Percival turned out to be the lightest on his feet. She shrugged silently to herself and turned her attention back to the scene once more. The bandit queen did her best to ignore the dying King on the ground. She knew it would only distract her from the scene.

After the five of them had surveyed the throne room for a few minutes, Leon whispered solemnly, "Our only option is the element of surprise. In so far, they don't know we're here, so we have to use that to our advantage."

Merlin peaked out from behind the column again and bit her lip, thinking. After a beat of silence, she realized that everyone was looking to her to think of something. She scowled at them for a second before whispering, "I can put an invisibility spell over you all. If I distract Morgana and Morgause, Gwaine and Lance can fight off Geoffrey and Gaius' guards and hopefully sneak them through a door that I'm pretty sure I see back there. I would be more helpful if I actually knew the layout. Anyway, Percival can grab Mordred and Elyan and Leon can carefully grab Arthur. I don't know where to go from there."

Gwaine and Leon nodded quickly, ready to get going, but Percival said quietly, "There is a place in the woods we prepared for situations like this after Morgana took over last time."

Merlin nodded quickly, but was prevented from saying anything by Lancelot asking quickly, "How are you going to fight off two powerful sorceresses while keeping an invisibility spell on us?"

"Trust me, brother." Merlin whispered back before her eyes flashed gold and she spoke gently, "Àcwincan." They disappeared in front of her and she blinked rapidly, her eyes turning gold again and then she could see the outline of their bodies in shimmering gold. She knew she was the only one who could see them.

They all nodded to her and she nodded back. It was time. Merlin stepped out from behind the pillar, walking confidently to the center of the room while watching the others out of the corner of her eye. Morgana's attention was still focused on Arthur's prone body and Agravaine's attention was focused on her. Morgause, however, saw Merlin immediately, eyes narrowing at the bandit queen, hand tightening minutely on the new queen's shoulder. Morgana's intense emerald gaze lifted to her sister and then to the slight girl standing in the middle of the room.

Merlin saw Leon glancing between the group of enemies on the raised dais, Merlin herself, and Arthur's body. She knew that if their attention stayed focused to where she was then, then Leon wouldn't be able to get to Arthur and the young King would bleed out in front of them. She had to get in front of them and cast a silent spell, blinking to hide the change in her eye color, that will make it seem as if nothing was moving behind her. So, the bandit queen did what she did best and went into business mode.

She blocked out all thoughts of fallen kings and their sweet, loving kisses. She blocked out all thoughts of silly, desperate knights trying to save their friends. She ignored all thoughts of Loren and her clan back out in the woods somewhere. She straightened her back, lifted an eyebrow, and adopted her customary smirk. She swaggered forward, stepping daintily over her love's body as if it wasn't even there. Merlin was aware that all of the knights were staring at her with a mixture of awe, fear, and horror. She didn't mind.

Morgana spoke first, spitting out her words, "You! I told you to beware my wrath and you dare to come into my court! Fool!"

Merlin's smirk widened and she raised her hands in mock surrender, "Hey, I was just coming to say that I might be willing to join forces with you, but you know what, never mind. I'll just leave now." She turned on her heel and started to walk away, taking a more circuitous path around the fallen king so as to draw attention away. The young woman heard Morgana's furious leap out of the throne and heard Morgause hold the queen back, whispering words in her ear.

It took longer than she expected, but the emerald eyed beauty eventually called, "Wait! Bandit Queen! Perhaps we could find a way to forge a partnership out of this."

The powerful sorceress turned around to face the witch, shrugging slightly and walking back towards the trio surrounding the throne, "I wouldn't say partnership. I've heard that bandits are notoriously difficult to do dealings with. I was looking for more of a… a mutual understanding." Merlin saw Gwaine and Lance leading Gaius and Geoffrey out through that back door, Lance already leading the two away while Gwaine held the door open for Percival, who was carrying two unconscious knights in his arms.

Morgana thought for a moment before plastering a forced smile onto her face, grinning magnanimously, "What were you thinking would come of this… mutual understanding?" None of the people on the dais had noticed the rapidly diminishing population in the room. Leon was in the process of dragging Arthur towards the door; Gwaine was still holding it open.

"You provide the occasional manpower and relatively constant supplies such as food, water, fresh horses, and the likes. Details can be worked out later. In return, no bandit will ever pray on Camelot again. We'll pillage the other kingdoms around you and make sure that your part in the deal is never discovered. The other kingdoms will believe that you scared us away and will think you powerful. My bandits will get aided access to the other kingdoms. It's truly a win win situation, don't you think?" Merlin flashed her best winning smiling at them and then returned to her smirk.

Lancelot's voice sounded urgently in her head, You need to get out of there now! We've all made it through the door and are waiting in the woods, but it won't be long before they realize that all the bodies are missing.

Merlin sent a response quickly, You guys go! I'll follow close behind. I just have to wrap this up, disappear dramatically, and then cover your tracks magically as I follow you. I'll catch up soon. He sent her a mental nod and she sighed to herself, relieved.

Morgana nodded and said, "That seems fair. We will need to discuss the finer details of this, but I believe the idea has merit."

Merlin nodded graciously and said, "Then I will get my second in command and reconvene with you at a later date." With that, her eyes flashed golden and, in a rare display of power, she disappeared in a golden halo of light. Then she set off doing what she had told Lance she would do.

In the background, she heard Morgana scream in anger, things crashing loudly. Merlin threw back her head and laughed.


	17. Chapter 17

The first thing Arthur heard when he woke up was Merlin's tinkling laugh. That was good; it meant that Sir Lancelot had found her and somehow convinced her to come. He must have had some sort of sibling power to get through her thick head. Then he frowned to himself. Why would Merlin be in his bed chambers? Why would any of his knights be in his bed chambers while he was sleeping?

Arthur shifted slightly, perhaps hoping to confront them about it – he wasn't entirely certain –, but then pain flared in his abdomen. He couldn't stop the whoosh of air that came out as he laid back down, an arm reflexively curling around his stomach. Merlin's rich laugh stopped and he heard people shuffling around him. The young king forced his eyes open, ignoring the voice in the back of his head that told him to go back to sleep.

Blue eyes opened to stare into the ocean blue eyes of his one true love. He smiled, forgetting that he heard other people in the room. For once in his life, it didn't matter that anyone else was watching. All he wanted to do was lean into her touch and kiss her passionately. Unfortunately, Merlin pulled away, letting Gaius lean over him. Arthur could honestly say that the first view was much better. As if she could read his mind, the bandit queen smirked down at him from the corner of his eye. Arthur rolled his eyes at her and her smirk widened.

Then Gaius was asking him how he was feeling and what hurt and was anything blurry and to keep his eyes. Arthur complied quickly, thinking only of going over to Merlin and kissing her senseless. That was when he realized that he was wearing his nightclothes only. It wasn't proper for her to see him like that! Against his will, Arthur's face lit up bright red. Merlin's smirk somehow got even wider. He settled for just glaring.

That was when he heard Gwaine's snickering from the other side of the room. The little weasel was laughing at him! That traitor! Wait… traitor…

And just like that, Arthur's mind snapped back to the present, remembering the past events. He remembered trying to fight off Morgana, who had opted to use a sword instead of her wicked magic. He had been gaining the upper hand before she snarled and his sword became too hot to grasp. Arthur had dropped it reflexively and Morgana had rammed her blade into his stomach. Arthur remembered staring her in the eyes, remembered seeing the brief flicker of his sister in her eyes, the brief look of horror that set in her eyes when she looked down at her rapidly reddening hands. Then it was lost in a look of icy emeralds and she twisted the blade before ripping it out. He didn't remember anything beyond that.

They must have somehow gotten out of the throne room and to the small cottage set up for their protection in case of exile. It was a safe haven to regroup and heal and plan. And now Merlin was in it. Merlin, who was a bandit queen and a powerful sorceress and the most beautiful person Arthur had ever seen, had stayed and helped them escape and was still here. Maybe that meant that she was going to help!

Arthur forced himself to sit up, ignoring the pain. He felt Gaius gently trying to push him down on one side and felt Leon trying to help him up on the other side. He glanced around the room, taking in the fact that everyone was here, despite the fact that Mordred and Elyan were sitting up in their own sick beds. They were both holding cold cloths to their heads. Percival was standing next to Merlin, letting her lean against him. Lance was hovering behind Leon with Gwaine a little farther behind him, still snickering a little bit. Arthur croaked out, "Morgana?"

Leon looked towards Merlin and answered, "Merlin turned us invisible and distracted Morgana, Morgause, and Agravaine while we escaped. She magically covered our tracks behind us. I don't know what kind state Morgana was in when she left."

Merlin, who was still leaning against Percival (a fact which Arthur's jealous mind supplied helpfully), answered tiredly, "I didn't hurt them. I just talked to them. When I left, she was screaming and breaking things, though." She let out a tired grin that looked like a shark smiling at its decimated meal. Arthur was a little scared of her at that moment.

Lance gave Merlin a look that Arthur couldn't discern; they seemed to do that a lot, almost as if they were reading each other's minds, which was ridiculous because they were only related through their mother. It wasn't like they were twins or anything. When Arthur's mind refocused on the people in front of him, Elyan was already talking, "We need to get rid of the army somehow."

Everyone snuck glances at Merlin, who glared them all down tiredly. Everything she was doing seemed to have an exhausted air to it. Before Arthur could ask about that, Merlin said, "I will not offer the services of myself or my people. I don't want to lose people and besides, if you guys lose, that proposition I gave Morgana was pretty good. I'll definitely take it up." The light in her eyes showed them that she was joking, but it still took several seconds longer than it should have for anyone to laugh. They were all too tense.

Mordred spoke up tentatively, still not looking at Arthur. The king sighed to himself. He knew that he had been a prat the last few weeks, but he had missed Merlin so much. He would make it up to the knights as soon as this whole ordeal was over. Mordred said, "Sir Lancelot said that you knew a way to kill the immortal soldiers?" He aimed his question at Merlin.

The bandit queen looked sharply at Lancelot, who shrugged. There was a silent pause before she answered, "I've heard of these types of warriors. They move faster and act stronger than normal humans and are unable to die." She whistled softly, the noise sounding like bells from her, "It must have taken immense amounts of power to do that. I know that Morgana is training to be a High Priestess and Morgause would have to be one to train her, that's still a lot of power, especially for an army of that size. Have any of you heard the tale of Achilles?"

Arthur frowned at her quick change in subject, but Percival and Gwaine both sucked in a breath at her words. He frowned at them and Percival quickly spoke up; he was the best story teller among them despite his reluctance to talk often, "Achilles was born to a mortal and a sea nymph. His mother loved him and wished for him to be safe. She grabbed him as a babe and dipped him into the River Styx. His time in its toxic waters caused him to have a sort of immortality. Every inch of his skin was impervious to injury except for that small bit of his heel that Thetis, Achilles' mother, held onto as she held him in the River. That small spot, along with his hubris, led to his downfall."

"Okay…" Arthur said, giving his by far largest knight a confused look before he figured it out himself. He was a little embarrassed that it took him so long to grasp, even after the story. The immortal army had a weakness! They had a spot that you could hit and it would kill them!

"Wait a minute." Elyan said weakly from his sick bed, "How do we know where their weakness is? They weren't all dipped into the same river because the soldiers were picked up from everywhere, so it won't be on their heel. How do we even tell?"

Merlin wrinkled her nose adorably and said, "You won't like it."

"Tell us." Arthur commanded. They didn't have time to dilly-dally.

"You have to capture one of the soldiers, tie them up, and keep stabbing at them until they die." At everyone's horrified expressions, Merlin continued, "One thing that makes this remotely better is that the more people Morgana adds to her army, the larger the weak spot is going to be. By this point, the week point should be as large as a head as opposed to the size of a gold coin."

"That's not much better." Leon mused from his spot to Arthur's left.

The bandit queen sighed again and rubbed her face. In a moment she said, "My people and I will do this task for you. We will find a warrior, restrain him, and kill him. I will return here to you to tell you where their weak point is. You'll only need that long enough to get to Morgana and Morgause. One of the basic rules of magic: destroy the source. If Morgana and Morgause die, then the entire army will become mortal again. That's still a lot of soldiers, but not all will be trained. Where's the need to be a good fighter when the enemy can't touch you?"

Arthur nodded and said, "Thank you, Merlin. With any luck, this war will be over soon." She nodded back at him and started to walk out the door. Lance stopped her for a moment and said goodbye. Then she was gone and the room seemed so much darker.

AAAAAA

It took her seven hours to come back. By that point, Arthur's wound wasn't bothering him anymore and he was up and pacing. He had checked his wound earlier and was shocked to see that it had disappeared. Gwaine confessed to seeing Merlin's eyes flash gold when she was helping Gaius treat the injury. Arthur wasn't sure what he thought about her magic. He still thought it was evil, but Merlin wasn't evil. She was the opposite of evil, actually. The king didn't understand how Merlin could embody only good and still be an incredibly powerful sorceress.

He voiced his concerns and Lancelot had glared at him for a moment before sighing and telling him that magic wasn't evil, like he had said earlier. It depended on who controlled it. Merlin wasn't evil, so her magic wasn't evil. Morgause was evil, so her magic was evil. It was as simple as that. Arthur thought he understood that, but then he thought further.

Morgana wasn't necessarily evil, just misguided, yet her magic was always horrible. When he spoke that thought out loud, Gaius had sighed and confessed quietly that Morgana had used her magic for good things when she had been younger. It wasn't until she met Morgause that she turned evil. Before Arthur could think on that further, Merlin walked back in, covered in mud and looking exhausted. She spoke quietly, her voice strained, "Their spot of weakness is their knees and the area just above and below them."

"Awesome! That won't be too hard!" Gwaine cried out, punching his fist in the air. The bandit queen simply smiled tiredly at the knight. Now that Arthur was thinking about it, Merlin looked wiped. The king had never seen her look so completely exhausted. Her already milky skin was sickly pale with hollows under her cheekbones and her eyes sunken in. There were large black bags under her eyes and she trudged wherever she went. She must have been leaning on Percival earlier because she was exhausted and couldn't stand up properly on her own. He suddenly felt extremely guilty for sending her off on a seven hour mission when she could barely stand up properly. Why hadn't she said anything? Didn't she realize that he cared about her and wouldn't want her hurt?

Arthur walked to her and led her to sit on a bed. She, surprisingly, didn't resist. Arthur asked, "Are you alright? Have you become ill?" The other knights crowded closer, likely just then realizing her state. Arthur noticed that Lancelot didn't seem very surprised and wondered when he'd noticed.

Merlin answered wearily, "I'm fine. I've just grown tired from all the magic I've been using recently. I haven't slept much recently, either." She shrugged.

Lance spoke up from directly behind Arthur's shoulder, "You should stay here with Gaius and Elyan while we fight Morgana and Morgause. You should sleep a little."

Gaius said, "As much as my instinct as a doctor tells me to make you rest because you are obviously exhausted, I think that, even in this state, you are our best bet at defeating the two witches. None of the knights are well-equipped enough to fight magic, let alone magic as strong as Morgana's and Morgause's."

The minute he finished talking, Merlin was standing again, rolling her shoulders and saying, "Then I'll go. Don't any of you dare to argue with me." The bandit queen turned an ice cold glare on the group, effectively silencing all of them. Arthur wanted to speak up, but he knew that this was the best course of action for his people and he knew that he wouldn't be able to convince her to act otherwise.

It hurt him, though, knowing that she would go into battle already weakened because of him. She shouldn't have to do that. He didn't want to lose someone else he loved. Alas, it was for the greater good. Arthur nodded firmly to the other monarch and said, "Then let's begin strategizing."

LLLLLL

Leon was still wary of letting Merlin come with them, but he wouldn't question his King's orders. The plan was simple enough. They would split into two teams. The distraction team would burst into the throne room and would be led by Arthur. The core fighting team would sneak in and Merlin would start to ensnare the sorceresses while they were distracted with Arthur. The thought was that by the time they noticed Merlin, they would already be trapped.

They experienced very little opposition on their way into the castle. There was a brief skirmish where they had run into two immortal soldiers, but Percival and Gwaine were able to keep them still long enough for two of the others to stab them in the knee. The two warriors fell to the ground, dead. Soon, they were outside of the throne room. Arthur waved a hand and held up two fingers before pointing them down and two the left. Leon translated silently to himself: Group One move into position straight into the room; Group Two move to the side and stay hidden. Merlin simply raised an eyebrow at the king and Leon had to suppress a small laugh, but then Group One was already in position, throwing open the throne doors and charging in.

After a long pause, Group Two snuck into the still open doors.

The scene was eerily similar to how it had been the last time they had been in the throne room, not so long ago. Arthur was standing in the middle of the throne room, unable to move. Mordred and Elyan had… curtains wrapped around them, stopping them from going any further. The first knight was sure that Gwaine would tease the two of them about that for months to come, but he ignored that for the moment, instead paying attention to the rest of the scene. Percival was being held back by two enormous, undoubtedly immortal, warriors. Morgana, Morgause, and Agravaine were in almost the exact same positions that they were in last time and Leon couldn't help the sneer his face took on as he looked at the king's uncle. That man had always been an attention seeking fool.

Merlin tapped his shoulder and gave him thumbs up, a questioning look in her eyes. He nodded tersely and the group spread out. Gwaine crept silently and unobtrusively across the back wall of the throne room, keeping low to the ground so no one would spot him. He then walked slowly to where Elyan and Mordred were. Lancelot walked slowly across the opposite wall and waited patiently behind where Percival and the guards were. Leon stayed behind the column with Merlin, making sure that no one snuck up behind the sorceress.

When the knight turned back to his charge, he saw that her eyes were closed and her lips were moving without words coming out of it. So far, so good. Leon heard a gasp and peaked around the column. Morgana was looking straight at him! Morgause soon followed his sister's gaze and her eyes flared a reddish gold as she raised her hand and shouted a spell. From behind Leon, the bandit queen gasped and was suddenly flung to the side, smashing into the wall and falling to the ground, her arm dropped at an awkward angle.

Leon ran to her, but suddenly a curtain wrapped itself around his ankle, pulling him down and dragging him towards the center of the room. Gwaine and Lancelot had suffered the same fate. The three were pulled to the side, eventually propped up next to Elyan and Mordred, taken down by linen. Fantastic.

The knight turned his attention back to the scene in front of him. Arthur snarled at his half-sister, calling out, "Set them free! They're not the ones you want! You said yourself that you wanted me."

"You're right," Morgana smirked, "I had wanted you. Now I want all of you. You've all become such pests, trying to keep me from my rightful place on the throne. I will be victorious! And you will be there to witness it all! I'll kill everyone who dared to go against me in some foolish bid at loyalty for their precious king. And I will start with the girl who captured your heart. Don't look so surprised, brother dear," Morgana laughed at Arthur's panicked expression, "Of course I know that you love her. I was like a sister to you for years. I know you." The evil sorceress raised an arm and Merlin's limp body floated towards the throne. Arthur tried to rush forward, but two more guards came up behind him and held him back. None of the knights could get to the bandit queen. None of them could save her.

Guilt rushed through Leon. They shouldn't have allowed this. She hadn't wanted to come and they made her. Before the man could wallow any more in regret, Morgause slapped the bandit queen, waking her up. She was unceremoniously dropped to the floor, whimpering softly when she landed on her injured arm. Merlin glared up at the sisters. Morgana smiled evilly and leaned down to talk to her, "We knew you were going to come back to try to stop us. So Morgause helped me set up a spell that stops all magic but our own from working in this room and it also alerts us when someone else tries to use magic. It was simple to locate you. You are a fool for thinking that you could go against me and win."

Merlin smirked at her captor and said, "You made a mistake."

Morgana leaned back daintily on Arthur's throne and inspected her nails, "Oh, really? And what would that be?"

"You didn't restrain me!" Merlin hissed and then she fell to her hands and knees. Leon's eyes opened wide when he realized what she was about to do. She was going to change into her wolf form! Within seconds, she was a large, raven black wolf with golden eyes. Morgana shrieked and stood up, her hand held protectively in front of her. Morgause was in much the same position and… Agravaine was cowering on the floor. Figures.

The wolf lunged at Morgana, but Morgana threw a fire ball at her. Merlin curled as she leapt through the air, twisting before landing on top of Morgause, who had jumped in front of her sister at the last moment. She swept her paws across the witch's face, leaving deep, weeping wounds and pushed the claws of another paw into the witch's stomach. Morgana screamed in anger and sent the wolf hurtling across the room, crashing into a wall again. Merlin fell to the ground, unconscious again. Leon watched as the powerful bandit turned back into her human form, this time with extra bruises and a split lip.

Morgana was sobbing over the body of her sister. Morgause weakly murmured something to the unlawful queen of Camelot and the emerald eyed beauty sobbed loudly, begging her sister to not leave her. Morgause lifted her hand up and cradled the other witch's face before the arm fell, eyes sliding shut. The former ward stared brokenly at the body and Leon felt something in his heart twitch at the sight. In this moment there was something left of that sweet girl that he had seen grow up happy here in the castle. Then Morgana lifted her pale green eyes that were so much like ice and the moment was shattered. There was nothing left of that old Morgana. She just wasn't there anymore.

In seconds, she was across the room, wrapping her hands around the bandit queen's neck and pushing her up against the wall. Leon saw that Morgana's eyes were gold and there were golden tendrils wrapping around her arm, presumably strengthening it. Merlin gasped into consciousness, her own arms coming up to try to push away Morgana's arm. Her feet started kicking out, trying to get some sort of purchase, some sort of leverage so she could just breathe again. Merlin's face had a light shade of purple beneath the skin and her kicks were getting weaker, her gasps more desperate and short.

Leon noticed that wind was started to pick up around the two powerful sorceresses and remembered what Morgana had said. The only magic that could be used in this room was Morgana's. Between strangling her victim and the vicious winds that tore at their clothes, Merlin wouldn't stand a chance. Arthur cried out from the side. He had been struggling to break free from his guards and get to his love when one of the warriors had smacked him with the force of a bear's paw.

Merlin's head snapped up and she stared at Arthur with what could only be fear. Leon figured that she must have somehow heard his cry of pain. Then Merlin's eyes glowed golden. The men holding Arthur were flung into walls, rock dust falling onto their bodies. Threads undid themselves and the curtains holding the rest of the knights fell apart, allowing them to quickly kill the men and turn their attention back to the magic users. Morgana had stepped back, shocked at the fact that Merlin could still use magic. Merlin was gasping for breath on the ground, her neck covered in bruises and her face slowly regaining her normal color.

The bandit queen stood, only reaching out to steady herself once. She glared at the current queen of Camelot and the woman glared back. They started circling each other, hatred in their eyes. A great tower of wind continued to spin around them, preventing any of the knights from entering. Suddenly, they were battling.

They both threw balls of flame at each other at the same time, sliding to the side or brushing the fire to the side. The fire balls continued to fly and occasionally one of the participants would get slightly singed and the observers would wince. Morgana pulled up some of the ground and threw it at Merlin who raised a golden shield that vaporized the debris. It didn't get all of it, though. One piece flew through the shield and ripped through Merlin's side. She cried out in pain and held her hand to her side, trying to ignore the rush of blood that flowed over her fingers.

Arthur yelled and charged at the two of them, sword held high. Morgana turned and started forming a fire ball. Her eyes were manic and her grin even more so. She prepared to throw the ball of flame, but she was aiming for Arthur. Merlin screamed out and raised her broken arm to the sky. The top of the throne room was blasted off, storm clouds forming instantly and the winds suddenly that much harsher. Merlin's eyes were completely gold and she stared unwaveringly at Morgana, pulling her fingers into a fist.

Instantly, lightning shot from the storm clouds above and wrapped itself around Merlin's fist, some of it sinking into her skin and sparking out of it, bathing her in a halo of lightning. Morgana's eyes widened and she turned back to her original prey, preparing to throw the fire ball again. Before she could even think about releasing it, Merlin's arm pointed towards the witch and the lightning shot out of it. Morgana was dead before she even got the chance to scream.

Leon ran to his king, checking him over and making sure he was alright. Gwaine whooped and cried out, "She did it! We did it! Morgana's gone! The soldiers are mortal again!"

Everyone smiled and turned to thank Merlin, but she was gone.


	18. Epilogue

Arthur reined his horse in and climbed gracefully from the saddle, turning to watch the knights get off of their own horses. Arthur waited until they all dismounted before leading the way into the woods. They were following the tracks of a deer, following its moves as it flew through the woods trying to escape the hunting party.

It had been about a month since Morgana and Morgause attacked Camelot with their immortal army. It had taken almost two weeks to hunt down all of the men who had been given immortality. They were either executed, imprisoned, or set free depending on their actions while immortal and the situation in which they were granted the immortality. It was difficult for Arthur to judge who received which punishment, but the King often found himself thinking about what Merlin would do in his stead.

He hadn't seen the bandit queen since that day when she killed the half-sister witches. Arthur had been worried sick about the sorceress and had been about to send out search parties to find her, but Lancelot assured him that Merlin was fine. Arthur didn't know how the noble knight knew that, but he was forced to trust Lance's judgment as he had a kingdom to put back together.

That didn't stop the blond haired man from worrying about her constantly, though. He had finally fallen in love and he (of course) had to pick the one that would disappear without a trace for long periods of time. He wasn't entirely certain how they were going to get past the fact that he was the king of a kingdom and she was the head of all of the bandit clans. There were definitely problems to come of that, but Arthur still intended to ask her to marry him anyways. He carried the ring that Elyan had forged for him around in his breast pocket everywhere he went, even putting it on a chain around his neck when he was sleeping. The first thing he would do when he saw Merlin again was kiss her senseless and then he would propose.

Stuck in his thoughts with a dreamy smile on his face, Arthur didn't notice that the rest of the knights were getting ahead of him. He jogged slightly to catch up.

The group of knights and their king entered a small clearing surrounded by thick trees with the only opening being the path they had come through. Distantly, Arthur realized that this would be the perfect place for an ambush, but he would have heard the enemy if there had been one. The King glanced around the clearing slowly and saw the deer they had been hunting. Arthur raised a hand and Leon raised a crossbow with it. Arthur's fist closed, leather creaking, and the crossbow bolt was sent flying. It hit the deer perfectly and the creature was dead within the minute. Arthur turned to congratulate his first knight, but a dagger to his throat and the gasps of his men around him prevented him from doing so. Glancing out of the corners of his eyes, he saw that all of his knights were in the same position as he was. Great.

Before he could move any further, a young woman's voice whispered in his ear, "Miss me?" It was Merlin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! (Originally posted on ff.net)


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